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Doug,
Currently Naval personnel (or Coast Guard for that matter) are not
required to hold Coast Guard licenses. In fact very few people in the
Navy would qualify for a Coast Guard license that would enable them to
stand the same watches on a merchant ship. One of the main reasons for
this is because we do not meet STCW requirements. The Coast Guard is
currently reviewing Naval training to determine which of our courses
should count for equivalency to STCW approved training. For example the
Coast Guard has determined that Basic Training (boot camp) meets the
requirements for STCW basic safety, with the exception of exposure suit
training. Hopefully it won't be long before we can get credit for our
training and it will be common for Naval personnel to be
licensed(although legally the crew of a Navy ship still won't be
required to be licensed).
I hope you didn't take my comment wrong about QMs going head to head
with merchant officers. That was in reply to someone who said that the
Navy had to look to the merchants to find a good navigator. The Merchant
Marine Academy alumni that I have worked with definitely knew navigation
and without a doubt were better trained in that area than graduates of
the Naval Academy or ROTC.
On a Navy ship the typical bridge watch includes:
Officer Of Deck (not necessarily an officer, I was qualified on my last
ship)
Junior Officer of the Deck and/or Conning Officer
Quartermaster of the Watch
Boatswain's Mate of the Watch
Helmsman
At least two lookouts
Phone talker communicating with the lookouts and CIC
And then we still several guys in CIC (Combat Information Center), who
are also navigating as a cross-check on the quartermaster and watching
the radar as a cross-check on the OOD.

   

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