If you want to be a navy captain, you should start your journey in high school. Because most people who become navy captains have a bachelor’s degree, and some even have master’s and doctoral degrees, good grades are required to get into a top-ranked college. After completing the college portion of the requirement, the next step in becoming a navy captain is to join the navy as an officer. The average captain of a ship has more than 20 years of experience as a naval officer, and the competition to command a naval vessel is fierce.
You should volunteer for every extraordinary duty available while serving in the navy. These tasks usually earn you promotion points and become positive entries on your permanent record, which will be scrutinized if you ever apply to be a navy captain. An ensign training program must also be applied for, accepted into, and completed. Anyone who wants to be a navy captain must pass this test. You must be assigned to and serve in an operational career field after successfully completing the program.
If you want to be a navy captain, you usually need to have excellent fitness or service reports. You must also work your way up the ranks to the position of executive officer (XO). This is the position of second-in-command on any naval vessel, and it is here that you will learn to command a ship. As the XO, you will be in charge of giving orders to the crew, as well as handling all discipline and crew member problems. While the ship is at sea and in port, you will operate at the captain’s right hand and act in his or her place with the crew.
As XO, you should take every opportunity to inform your superiors that your ambition is to become a navy captain. You will only be given a command aboard a ship on the recommendation of these high-ranking individuals. You may one day be called upon to command a ship and her crew if you demonstrate exemplary performance and attention to detail in every aspect of your day-to-day duties, as well as proving trustworthy in good times and bad. The number of XOs in the navy is typically many times greater than the number of ships to command. If you want to be a navy captain, you’ll have to rise above and beyond everyone else.