Surface Warfare Officer Schools Archives

Navy Says JO Ship-Driving Skills Show Modest Improvement as GAO Raises Questions on New Training Regimes

21 November 2019

Ens. Autumn Estrada stands watch as the conning officer in the pilothouse of USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) on July 8, 2019. US Navy Photo

Navy ship-driving skills of its junior officers have seen modest improvements over last the two years since the fatal collisions in the Western Pacific that resulted in the death of 17 sailors, according to testing data obtained by USNI News.

One year after the collisions, the Navy held a snap assessment of a group of 164 surface warfare officers qualified to be...

https://news.usni.org/2019/11/21/navy-says-jo-ship-driving-skills-show-modest-improvement-as-gao-raises-questions-on-new-training-regimes

Navy Wants to Bolster Advanced Schoolhouse Training to Prep SWOs for Higher-Level Fight

30 August 2019

Ensigns Jeffrey Wong, Micheal Marner, Jesse Himes, and David Garza stand watch aboard a simulated bridge during the inaugural Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD) course at Naval Base San Diego. The four-week course, a new addition to the revised Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) career path, includes training in a broad range of integrated bridge fundamentals. With this course, newly commissioned ensigns now attend both the Basic Division Officer Course (BDOC) and JOOD to prepare them to drive ships...

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/29/navy-wants-to-bolster-advanced-schoolhouse-training-to-prep-swos-for-higher-level-fight

New JO Deck Course Showing Results, Boosting Young SWOs’ Competency

15 August 2019

Ens. David Williams, from Sagamore Hills, Ohio, left, and Lt. j.g. Kevin Hunter, from Pittsburg, right use the ship’s surface radar to locate surface contacts aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62). US Navy Photo

SAN DIEGO – The Navy is continuing its drive to better train junior surface warfare officers, rolling out new courses in San Diego and Norfolk to try to increase the overall proficiency of these officers before they show up to ships.

In the...

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/15/new-jo-deck-course-showing-results-boosting-young-swos-competency