At arguably one of the most difficult times in our country, the Naval Academy is training and equipping midshipmen to become officers and leaders in the fleet. The surface community in particular is essential to gaining and maintaining sea control. This year alone, 275 midshipmen will commission into the surface warfare community choosing to join the fight head on. I believe my class is prepared for this challenge due to the rigorous training we have received over the past four years at the Academy. The pipeline, in my opinion, is one of the best to produce surface warfare officers.   

Academic Development 

The U.S. Naval Academy is one of the most prestigious programs for those who desire to be surface warfare officers in the Navy. The education provided to each midshipman does not stop at the basics of math, science, or engineering. It delves into surface warfare specifics that all midshipmen, regardless of service selection, (surface, subs, air, or marines) are required to learn. Seamanship and navigation, naval history, leadership, and ethics are just a few of the required courses midshipmen must complete in order to graduate from the Naval Academy. The academic opportunities concerning surface warfare are endless. As a freshman, you are provided the opportunity to be the conning officer on one of the Naval Academy’s yard patrol crafts (YP) whose purpose is to train midshipmen and develop their seamanship and navigation skills. As a sophomore, you are working in the ship simulators to better understand the current naval environment and lessons learned from recent surface vessel collisions such as the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) or the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62). As a junior, you are plotting charts and learning celestial navigation. As a senior, you are choosing the homeport and ship you will serve your first division officer tour on. Each year is specifically crafted to prepare future officers for the fleet, with a strong emphasis on surface warfare. 

Mentorship 

A misunderstanding in the SWO community is that they “eat their young.” Though this may have been a tradition of the past, it is no longer that way, at least not at the Academy. The support and mentorship that is offered by surface warfare officers at the Naval Academy is unbelievable. They are passionate about their profession and eager to share their knowledge and experiences in order to guide midshipmen down a path that ultimately leads to success. Company officers, senior enlisted leaders, and seamanship and navigation instructors are all available for mentorship with only a simple email request. I have personally developed my passion for surface warfare through hearing stories and gathering advice over a cup of coffee, through a COVID-19 friendly virtual meeting, and through a Calc III class. “Sea Story Friday” is an opportunity for a professor to take a break from class and share their fleet experiences. More times than not, it isn’t just a funny story or a lesson learned. Those stories and advice leave midshipmen with thoughts of the future and how they want to serve and lead. The faculty and staff, who proudly wear their surface warfare pins every day, go above and beyond to educate and prepare the future leaders of the SWO community.  

Culture Change 

Over the past few years, there has been a dynamic shift in the SWO stigma at the Naval Academy. Midshipmen are getting excited to join the surface warfare community and fight on board a grey hull ship. They see the challenge and hard work that awaits them, and they are eagerly awaiting graduation so they can tackle it. The Academy has worked hard to improve the perception of SWO culture by creating mentorship programs and events to better educate midshipmen. Ship selection is one of the biggest events the Academy does to promote the surface community. All of the first class midshipmen get in line, walk across the stage, and choose their first ship. High ranking officers attend the event to give both congratulations and advice. Ship selection is one of the cornerstone events for a SWO-select at the Academy. I proudly chose the USS Carney (DDG-64) and I will remember that night for the rest of my career. Choosing a ship, and watching my classmates do the same, epitomized, to me, why we came to the Naval Academy. We came to serve in the navy, and what better way to achieve that than underway. The perception of the surface community at the Academy is improving at an accelerated rate. This perception is becoming more and more positive every year in the eyes of midshipmen as the surface warfare community at the Academy shine a light on how rewarding and positively challenging the surface warfare community is. To make a culture change, you need innovation and intent; both of which are evident at the Naval Academy and in the surface warfare community. 

Leadership 

Midshipmen are required to lead during their four-year ascension program. Whether you are a squad leader responsible for 10-12 people or a battalion commander responsible for 600–650 people, you have a leadership role to fulfill. These positions are all challenging in their own way and require integrity, organization, and compassion. As midshipmen, we not only focus on academics, but we are also charged with balancing billets, collateral duties, watches, and professional development requirements. This is closely correlated to the job of a new division officer on board a surface ship. The Naval Academy paves the way for midshipmen to successfully learn the basics of leading a division while getting qualified. It gives us the opportunity to develop our own personal leadership style by forcing us to try and observe different ways of leading. There are, after all, many different types of people, personalities, and leadership styles. We are encouraged and expected to figure out our own style of leading while still maintaining true to ourselves. Leadership is embedded in midshipmen at the Academy and is crucial to developing hard working officers that will enter the surface fleet. 

The U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2021 eagerly awaits the opportunity to practice everything we have learned and developed over the past four years. As we await our orders and future billets on board the ships we have chosen, we continue to seek advice and guidance from SWOs on the Yard. We know that there is always more to learn and we are ready to do so. We are excited and prepared to join the world’s most powerful Navy.