America’s ships are like floating cities. Operating these large vessels and keeping all the electrical systems up and running is no small task. Marine electricians play an integral role in the design, inspection, and maintenance of the electrical systems on ships — often before they even set sail.
“Ships must move from place to place with high reliability and minimal support while in transit to locations often far from land and support services,” says Alex Landsburg, technical and research coordinator for SNAME, an international organization for maritime and ocean professionals. “The many complex electrical connections, electronic systems, and generators must continue to work through quick component replacement or by switching to alternate systems. Most systems must be instantly ready to provide the same function — to not only prevent inconvenience or economical loss, but also to ensure survival.”
Over time, ships have become a key element for a large portion of America’s economy, which is based on just-in-time delivery from anywhere in the world, Landsburg says. To improve the reliability of marine transportation systems, marine electricians and electronic technicians support the design, construction, and maintenance of these systems, oftentimes during the brief time the ships are at port.
“Commercial ships transporting cargo spend as little time in port as possible to minimize expenses and maximize productivity, and are usually in and out in one day,” Landsburg says. “Most modern large ships carrying cargo are highly automated with very few crew on board. A large part of onboard efforts goes toward planning repairs and maintenance so it can be accomplished in the few hours while in port.”
In contrast, the major maintenance of commercial ships is performed when periodic required dry dock inspections take place. For example, when a ship is out of water in a shipyard, it can undergo a significant amount of maintenance before it is returned to sea.
“While Naval ships have different missions, they also must be highly reliable when at sea,” Landsburg says.
When Naval ships aren’t deployed, they often spend long periods in a port. During this time, maritime trade professionals have ample opportunity to overhaul and fine-tune systems and perform preventive maintenance.
To learn how to keep the ships in tip-top shape, marine electricians must first successfully complete proper training and certification. For example, near Virginia Beach, Va., maritime electricians are in strong demand — both at the small and large shipyards, says Thomas Stout, dean of the Science, Engineering, Technology and Math (STEM) program at Tidewater Community College (TCC).
“Locally, they are always looking for electricians, mechanics, and welders,” Stout says. “There’s a good need here because we have a graying workforce. Now that the economy is getting better, they need people to work on aircraft carriers and ship construction.”
According to ElectricianSchoolEdu.com, the current job opportunities lie in three different markets — maintenance within the U.S. shipyards, upgrading systems for the defense industry, and powering vessels within the recreational boating market — since the majority of major ship construction has moved overseas.
“Marine electricians can find themselves working on anything from mega-yachts to 20-ft runabouts to cruise liners,” the site stated. “No matter the size of the vessel they work on, marine electricians can count on one inconvenient fact: the wiring tends to be run through the least accessible parts of the hull and superstructure.”
Training marine electricians
To learn how to work as a marine electrician, prospective students can enroll in specialized training programs and schools of seamanship, which offer hands-on educational programs. For example, TCC in Virginia offers a marine electrical certificate, which feeds directly into a two-year associate’s degree. To earn the certificate, students must successfully complete the following courses: Introduction to Ship Systems; Marine Electrical for Maritime Vessels; Marine Electronics for Maritime Vessels; Transformer Connections and Circuits; Electrical Motor Control; and Programmable Controls.
Stout says his community college has trained electricians looking to shift directions in their careers as well as young students just entering the electrical field.
“Anyone can sign up for the classes who has a strong interest in the maritime industry,” says Stout, a retired Navy senior chief who has worked in the shipyards. “You don’t have to be in an apprenticeship program.”
Not just anyone can work on a ship, however, Stout says. To be properly trained and qualified, electricians must receive specialized instruction.
“The equipment that marine electricians are installing now on ships is much different than in the commercial or industrial market,” Stout says. “If you take those electricians and put them in a shipyard environment without training, they wouldn’t know how to deal with it.”
To train aspiring marine electricians, TCC provides both classroom and hands-on learning. By practicing on electrical equipment and electronics mock-ups in the lab, the students quickly learn that the equipment built for ships is much more rugged than in a commercial or industrial environment, Stout says.
“I taught some marine electricians several years ago, and they almost destroyed the programmable logic controller (PLC) module trying to get it out,” Stout says. “Also, my students kept over-torqueing the contact blocks for switches and snapping them off.”
Because many ship building and repair yards are now installing PLCs in many areas of the ship, TCC recently revised its curriculum and certificate program to provide instruction on PLC units.
“As they modernize the fleet, they are using more industrial controls,” Stout says. “They are automating more systems because the newest classes of ships and aircraft carriers have fewer sailors on them.”
To learn more about the controls and electrical equipment aboard a ship, the majority of the certificate holders move on to pursue their associate’s degrees at TCC or a four-year bachelor’s degree, which allows them to move into a supervisory role almost immediately, Stout says.
“When they enter an apprenticeship program, they often have to complete additional related instruction hours, so their employers send them here,” Stout says.
After graduating from the program, the students are likely to find employment in the ship building and repair industries. Depending upon which ship they work on, the marine electricians may be running electrical power distribution or working with the Navy to upgrade systems, Stout says.
Working in the maritime industry
For Melvin Copney Jr., a passion for working with electricity and a career in the Navy drove him to work as a marine electrician. After high school, he joined the U.S. Navy as a gas turbine systems electrician for four years, and then he continued his career with AMSEC, LLC, in November 2000.
“As far as I know, I am the only member of my family who chose this career path,” Copney says. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to work with electricity.”
To make the leap from a gas turbine electrician to a marine electrician, Copney enrolled in the program at TCC. When he decided to apply for the program, he hadn’t been in the classroom environment for at least a dozen years, and he was working a full-time job. By sticking with it, however, his hard work paid off.
“TCC has a great electrical program and an even better group of people teaching and training the students who want to know more about this industry,” Copney says. “Since I was not new to the industry, this made the program more interesting because it showed me things I didn’t know about my trade. The trainers and instructors made it simple for me to transfer from the classroom to the ship.”
Today, as the manager of production, planning, and scheduling, he typically works from about 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. During his work day, he reviews all of the technical work documents issued for action. He also handles the work that upgrades the current electromechanical relays to PLCs or industrial computer control systems.
Copney currently has 10 employees working for him on board the USS George Washington, which is docked at Newport News Shipbuilding. His company works on multiple Naval platforms, including submarines, and carrier overhaul is typically done in a dry dock or pier side. Currently, his team is performing aircraft carrier maintenance and upgrades in preparation for the ship’s refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH). Working on this type of project has both challenges and rewards, he says.
“During the RCOH, we have to deal with extreme conditions, meaning when it’s hot it’s hot, and when it’s cold it’s cold,” Copney says. “When the ship is in overhaul, the spaces have no air-conditioning or heat. The plus side is that I get to continue to serve my country by keeping our Naval fleet ready to perform its duties.”
As the existing fleet is replaced with the newer classes of vessels currently being constructed, the industry needs marine electricians with the skills to install, troubleshoot, and repair the new electromechanical systems that are controlled by PLCs, Copney says.
“Marine electricians will always be needed, due to the constant changes to the ships on the waterfront at Newport News Shipbuilding,” he says. “Due to the time to build a ship, there is a stability of work for a marine electrician versus the need in the residential or commercial construction market to ‘find the next project.’ In the Hampton Roads area, this market has a very promising future.”
Fischbach is a freelance writer based in Overland Park, Kan. She can be reached at [email protected].
SIDEBAR 1: Serving the U.S. Navy
Aspiring marine electricians can not only learn the trade through programs at local community colleges, but also at Naval shipyards. For example, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, employs more than 5,600 civilian employees and trains applicants in different skilled trades.
Within the marine electrician training programs, the applicants learn to install, manufacture and test nuclear and non-nuclear shipboard electrical systems and control equipment. According to the Naval Sea Systems Command, their typical work includes overhauling, repairing, and testing rotating equipment, motor control equipment, switchboards, power panels, circuit breakers, connectors, communication equipment, batteries, lighting and cabling.
Applicants who are U.S. citizens, at least 18 years old, meet the shipyard’s security requirements, pass the placement exam and are physically able to perform the job can apply for one of two following programs — the Worker Skills Progression Program and the Trades Apprenticeship Program.
As part of the five-year Worker Skills Apprenticeship Program, students are engaged in on-the-job learning and technical trade training. They attend academic classes at the shipyard and trade training in the shop areas.
Through the Trades Apprenticeship Program, apprentices learn their trade with paid academic and trade training and on-the-job learning at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. After two years, they are promoted to an intermediate journey worker and then after another two years, to a full journey worker. Upon completion of the program, they earn a certificate from the Department of Labor and the Department of the Navy. During the program, they can also earn college credits towards an associate’s degree from one of two local community colleges.
Matt Maher, a graduate of the four-year apprenticeship program, says before he joined the workforce at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, he had experience with manufacturing and construction, but a limited knowledge about electrical work. Through his apprenticeship, he had the opportunity to better understand how electricity works.
“In the academic portion of the apprenticeship, we learn the basics of electrical theory, motor theory, and electronics,” Maher says. “We then have the opportunity to take that knowledge and apply it to what we do on a daily basis.”
Today, Maher works in the Motor Shop overhauling 500kW motor-generator sets.
“The training I have received from both teachers in class and experienced mechanics on the production floor is second to none,” Maher says. “These are very complex machines with thousands of parts and critical close tolerances that submarines rely on to keep their sailors safe. The training I received at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard gives me the knowledge I need to get the job done right the first time.”
As a material control mechanic for the Motor Shop at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maher is responsible for keeping track of all of the parts and pieces, which go into manufacturing a motor-generator.
“The logistics aspect of this job is a challenge, as all of the material that goes into a given 500kW motor-generator comes from many different sources all across the country,” Maher says. “I work closely with management and our engineering code to ensure that we have everything we need in a timely manner so production moves forward as smoothly as possible.”
He says he enjoys the challenge of his current position, and gets to learn something new every day. For example, he works with a variety of support codes to get objectives accomplished. As a material control mechanic, the training and background knowledge he gained from working on the 500kW motor-generator sets have been instrumental in his success, he says.
“Working in this industry is challenging and rewarding,” Maher says. “I get to gain a lot of knowledge while doing my small part to help protect our great nation.”
SIDEBAR 2: Powering Buildings Vs. Ships at Sea
When diving into the marine electrician trade, electrical students quickly learn the differences between working on an electrical system on land and one that is floating at sea. Here are some things students often discover through their training program.
• On a ship, every power lead has voltage on it versus on a commercial project, where only one lead has power, says Melvin Copney, Jr., a marine electrician.
• While every commercial and industrial electrician knows that the black wire is hot and the white wire is neutral, on a ship, that’s simply not the case, says Thomas Stout of Tidewater Community College.
• Shipbuilders are shifting away from armored cable to a heavier jacket cable compared to NM type cable, which has a thin coating, Stout says.
• The majority of the cable is not run in conduit, with two exceptions: the exterior or outside the stern of the ship, Stout added.
• Aboard marine vessels, the difference in cabling alone is a big change, Stout says. For example, if the electricians are pulling cable for a ship’s radar system, they may discover 40 twisted pairs within a 1-in. or 1.5-in. cable. In addition, the connectors and the conductors have more insulation, and the cabling is designed to be fire resistant.
SIDEBAR 3: Four Trends in the Maritime Industry
1. Fewer crew members onboard.
2. Further advancements in automation.
3. More use of electrical power onboard led by the cruise industry.
4. Naval interest and research into moving to electrical propulsion and use of rail guns onboard combatant vessels. In the future, they will both involve major increases in onboard power along with innovation of electrical and electronic systems, says Alex Landsburg of SNAME.
