Marine Engineers and Naval Architects
Whoever controls the seas controls the world... Did you know that the United States maintains its military and economic dominance over the world thanks to its naval fleets, stretching east and west, made up of 323,000 sailors and 288 combat ships, 10 aircraft carriers, nine amphibious assault ships, 22 cruisers, 62 destroyers, 17 frigates, 72 submarines, and 3,700 aircraft — making the US Navy alone, with all its weaponry, more powerful than most of the world's militaries combined. On the economic level, the spread of American fleets across every continent of the world and their near-total dominance of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has made the US the primary controller of the world's most important maritime trade routes, generating enormous profits you can hardly imagine. 90% of the goods and products produced by every country in the world are transported to their various destinations across seas, oceans, and rivers — ships carry more than 11 billion tons every year of the various products people use in their lives, from cars and clothing to raw materials, grain, food, electrical and electronic devices, petroleum products, and more. Every country in the world understands the importance of ships and naval vessels, whether military or commercial, which is why countries — especially those with advanced economies and massive military arsenals — are keen to own as many of them as possible. To achieve that, they need to have the largest possible number of experts specialized in designing and manufacturing the various commercial and military naval vessels and equipping them with the advanced technology and systems needed for the purposes they're built for — and this expertise belongs only to marine engineers. Building military, commercial, or passenger ships is no easy task — a single ship is like a small town floating on water. You can grasp the scale of this industry when you learn that one American aircraft carrier reaches 335 meters in length, weighs a hundred thousand tons, runs on two nuclear reactors, took 10 years to build, and cost $14 billion.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Design complete hull and superstructure according to specifications and test data, in conformity with standards of safety, efficiency, and economy.
- Study design proposals and specifications to establish basic characteristics of craft, such as size, weight, speed, propulsion, displacement, and draft.
- Perform monitoring activities to ensure that ships comply with international regulations and standards for life-saving equipment and pollution preventatives.
- Evaluate performance of craft during dock and sea trials to determine design changes and conformance with national and international standards.
- Prepare plans, estimates, design and construction schedules, and contract specifications, including any special provisions.
- Check, test, and maintain automatic controls and alarm systems.
- Design layout of craft interior, including cargo space, passenger compartments, ladder wells, and elevators.
- Evaluate operation of marine equipment during acceptance testing and shakedown cruises.
- Conduct environmental, operational, or performance tests on marine machinery and equipment.
- Inspect marine equipment and machinery to draw up work requests and job specifications.
- Prepare, or direct the preparation of, product or system layouts and detailed drawings and schematics.
- Investigate and observe tests on machinery and equipment for compliance with standards.
- Coordinate activities with regulatory bodies to ensure repairs and alterations are at minimum cost and consistent with safety.
- Design and oversee testing, installation, and repair of marine apparatus and equipment.
- Prepare technical reports for use by engineering, management, or sales personnel.
- Maintain contact with, and formulate reports for, contractors and clients to ensure completion of work at minimum cost.
- Confer with research personnel to clarify or resolve problems and to develop or modify designs.
- Conduct analytical, environmental, operational, or performance studies to develop designs for products, such as marine engines, equipment, and structures.
- Determine conditions under which tests are to be conducted, as well as sequences and phases of test operations.
- Review work requests and compare them with previous work completed on ships to ensure that costs are economically sound.
- Analyze data to determine feasibility of product proposals.
- Conduct analyses of ships, such as stability, structural, weight, and vibration analyses.
- Establish arrangement of boiler room equipment and propulsion machinery, heating and ventilating systems, refrigeration equipment, piping, and other functional equipment.