The student choosing a career as a licensed deck officer (mate) or a shoreside maritime manager majors in marine transportation. This major provides the broadest maritime industry training possible consistent with officer licensing requirements.
Marine transportation graduates have a broad employment field open to them. A wide variety of shoreside management positions await the graduate in numerous maritime sectors, including vessel operations, ship’s agency, marine insurance, stevedoring, charter brokering, and federal employment, as well as shipboard employment opportunities.
The MT curriculum includes three practical training experiences: two sea training periods aboard the Training Ship GOLDEN BEAR, and one sea training period aboard a commercial or military vessel. This major, through the wide array of professional skills taught, is designed to prepare the student to take the U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Marine Officer licensing exam. Passing this examination, which results in the issuance of a Third Mate’s license, is essential for a student seeking employment as a licensed deck officer on a commercial vessel and is required to earn the marine transportation degree.
Deck Licenses
Deck licenses issued by the U.S. Coast Guard increase in rank as follows: Third Mate, Second Mate, Chief Mate, and Master. A raise in grade is dependent upon the graduate’s ability to accumulate sea time, usually one year’s sea time in each license category, and to pass USCG examinations of increasing complexity and difficulty.
- Plan and execute safe voyages using terrestrial, celestial, radar/ARPA, and ECDIS methods, integrating tides, currents, and weather.
- Maintain a safe bridge watch applying COLREGs, GMDSS procedures, and effective Bridge Resource Management (BRM).
- Demonstrate leadership, professionalism, ethical judgment, and clear communication in complex and diverse environments.
- Maneuver vessels and small craft for berthing, anchoring, close-quarters operations, including introductory tug-and-barge work.
- Analyze stability and plan/monitor dry and liquid cargo operations with pollution-prevention controls.
- Apply shipboard safety, security, and emergency-response procedures and lead effective drills.
- Meet licensure requirements by interpreting and applying maritime regulations (SOLAS, MARPOL, STCW) and demonstrating readiness for the U.S. Coast Guard Third Mate (Unlimited) exam.
Degree Requirements and Curriculum
In addition to the program requirements listed on this page, students must also satisfy requirements outlined in more detail in the Minimum Requirements for Graduation section of this catalog, including:
- 40 units of upper-division courses
- 2.0 GPA
- Graduation Writing Requirement (GWR)
- U.S. Cultural Pluralism (USCP)
Note: No Major, Support or Concentration courses may be selected as credit/no credit. In addition, no more than 12 units of cooperative or internship courses can count towards your degree requirements.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| MAJOR COURSES | ||
| DL 1100 | Small Craft Operations | 1 |
| DL 1105 & 1105L | Marine Survival and Marine Survival Laboratory | 2 |
| DL 1105X | United States Coast Guard Lifeboatman's Exam | 0 |
| DL 1110 | Ship Operations I | 1 |
| DL 1115 | Marlinspike | 1 |
| DL 1120 | Cargo Operations | 1 |
| DL 2225 & 2225L | Radar/Arpa and RADAR/ARPA Laboratory | 4 |
| DL 2240 & 2240L | Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) and Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) Laboratory | 3 |
| DL 3301 | Navigation Piloting Laboratory | 1 |
| DL 3305 | Tug and Barge | 1 |
| DL 3310 | Marine Supervisory Laboratory | 1 |
| DL 3311 | Marine Management Laboratory | 1 |
| DL 3320 | Introduction to Bridge Simulator | 2 |
| DL 4405 & 4405L | Shipboard Medical and Shipboard Medical Laboratory | 2 |
| DL 4410 | Ship Handling | 1 |
| DL 4420 | Watchstanding Simulation | 2 |
| NAU 1103 | Marine Transportation | 3 |
| NAU 1104 | Shipboard Security and Responsibility | 1 |
| NAU 1105 | Ship Structure | 2 |
| NAU 1109 | Industrial Equipment and Safety | 2 |
| NAU 1102 & 1102L | Navigation I and Navigation I Laboratory | 4 |
| NAU 1110 | Seamanship | 3 |
| NAU 1120 | Marine Engineering | 3 |
| NAU 2205 | Ship Stability (2) 1 | 3 |
| NAU 2230 | Rules of the Road | 2 |
| NAU 3300 & 3300L | Celestial Navigation and Celestial Navigation Laboratory | 4 |
| NAU 3302 & 3302L | Advanced Navigation and Advanced Navigation Laboratory | 3 |
| NAU 3320 | Tank Vessel Operations | 3 |
| NAU 3325 | Port and Cargo Operations | 3 |
| NAU 3330 | Meteorology (Upper-Division 2/5) 1 | 3 |
| NAU 3335 & 3335L | Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems and Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems Laboratory | 3 |
| NAU 4410 & 4410L | License Seminar and License Seminar Laboratory | 2 |
| NAU 4415 | Transportation Security | 2 |
| NAU 4435 | Marine Transportation: People, Planet and the Profession | 3 |
| Approved Electives | ||
| Select from the following: | 6 | |
| Special Topics | ||
| Maritime Casualty Seminar | ||
| Liquefied Gas Cargos | ||
| Dynamic Positioning Induction | ||
| SUPPORT COURSES | ||
| CRU 1100 | Sea Training I - Deck | 8 |
| CRU 2200 & 2200L | Sea Training II - Deck and Sea Training II Lab (Deck) | 8 |
| CRU 3300 | Sea Training III - Deck | 8 |
| ECO 1100 | Macroeconomics (4B) 1 | 3 |
| EGL 1100 | English Composition (1A) 1 | 3 |
| EGL 1110 | Speech Communication (1C) 1 | 3 |
| EGL 2220 | Critical Thinking (1B) 1 | 3 |
| ENG 1120L | Marine Engineering Laboratory | 1 |
| FF 1100 | Basic Marine Firefighting | 0 |
| FF 3300 | Advanced Marine Firefighting | 0 |
| GOV 2200 | American Government (4A) 1 | 3 |
| MTH 1100 | College Algebra and Trigonometry (2) 1 | 4 |
| LAW 3315 | Admiralty Law (Upper-Division 4) | 3 |
| PE 1101 | Swim Competency Exam 2 | 0 |
| PHY 1100 & 1100L | General Physics I and General Physics I Laboratory (5A & 5C) 1 | 4 |
| GENERAL EDUCATION (GE) | ||
| (See GE program requirements below) | 18 | |
| FREE ELECTIVES | ||
| Free Electives | 0 | |
| Total Units | 148 | |
- 1
Required in Major or Support; also satisfies General Education (GE) requirement.
- 2
Swim assessments are required of all cadets during Orientation week. If PE 1101 is not passed with a grade CR, then enrollment in PE 1102 will be required.
General Education (GE) Requirements
- 43 units required, 25 of which are specified in Major and/or Support.
- If any of the remaining 18 Units is used to satisfy a Major or Support requirement, additional units of Free Electives may be needed to complete the total units required for the degree.
- See the complete GE course listing.
- A grade of C- or better is required in one course in each of the following GE Areas: 1A (English Composition), 1B (Critical Thinking), 1C (Oral Communication), and 2 (Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning).
| Lower-Division General Education | ||
| Area 1 | English Communication and Critical Thinking | |
| 1A | Written Communication (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| 1B | Critical Thinking (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| 1C | Oral Communication (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| Area 2 | Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning | |
| 2 | Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| Area 3 | Arts and Humanities | |
| 3A | Arts | 3 |
| 3B | Humanities: Literature, Philosophy, Languages other than English | 3 |
| Area 4 | Social and Behavioral Sciences (Area 4 courses must come from at least two different course prefixes.) | |
| 4A | American Institutions (Title 5, Section 40404 Requirement) (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| 4B | Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| Area 5 | Physical and Life Sciences | |
| 5A | Physical Sciences (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| 5B | Life Sciences | 3 |
| 5C | Laboratory (may be embedded in a 5A or 5B course) (1 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| Area 6 | Ethnic Studies | |
| 6 | Ethnic Studies | 3 |
| Upper-Division General Education | ||
| Upper-Division 2/5 | Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning or Physical and Life Sciences (3 units in Support) 1 | 0 |
| Upper-Division 3 | Arts and Humanities | 3 |
| Upper-Division 4 | Social and Behavioral Sciences (Area 4 courses must come from at least two different course prefixes.) | 3 |
| Total Units | 18 | |
- 1
Required in Major or Support; also satisfies General Education (GE) requirement.