Restoring American maritime power

Restoring Maritime Power Requires Service Obligated Merchant Marine Officer

Maritime Day 2025 is especially noteworthy. This year, we’ve reached a long-overdue turning point in the effort to restore America’s maritime strength and reclaim global sea power. While much attention is rightly focused on kick-starting domestic shipbuilding and closing the industrial gap with China, we must not forget the human element. A maritime strategy—and our military sealift—are only as strong as the men and women who execute it.

Fortunately, momentum is building—and it’s coming from all the right places: Congress, the White House, and the Cabinet. Across the political spectrum, leaders are recognizing that our diminished maritime posture is a serious national security vulnerability.

If conflict erupts in the Pacific, the United States must be prepared to project power through sustained military sealift. That means ships. That means trained crews. And that means investing in the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), the federal service academy that produces more than 80 percent of the militarily obligated Strategic Sealift Officers who will command our sealift vessels in times of war.

There are four significant developments worth celebrating—though much of the recent press coverage has overlooked what they mean for the USMMA.

First: President Trump’s recent executive order, Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance, directs the Department of Transportation to develop a five-year capital improvement plan for the USMMA. It wisely reprograms existing federal funds so that modernization work can begin as quickly as possible.

Second: Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who attended this year’s Battle Standard Dinner – held to honor the 142 USMMA cadets who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in WWII – has publicly embraced both the Academy’s modernization and the Midshipmen. He has tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with leading the project, ensuring professional oversight and long-term continuity.

Third: The reintroduction in the Senate on April 30 of the landmark SHIPS for America Act of 2025. This bipartisan legislation—driven by USMMA alumnus Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), with House support from Reps. Trent Kelly (R-MS) and John Garamendi (D-CA)—aims to rapidly expand America’s maritime capabilities. It calls for increased shipbuilding, expanded mariner training, and much-needed upgrades to our sealift infrastructure. Crucially, it specifically calls for a comprehensive modernization of the USMMA campus in Kings Point, NY, which has remained essentially unchanged since its founding in the 1940s.

Fourth: In the House, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) have introduced H.R. 2429, a bipartisan bill that authorizes $1.02 billion over 10 years to rebuild the Academy’s campus. It provides $54 million for design and planning in the first year, with annual construction funding to follow—ensuring the Academy remains fully operational throughout.

Taken together, these actions represent more than just a long-overdue facilities upgrade. They are a national security imperative and provide a roadmap for revitalizing the USMMA to ensure it can recruit and educate the best talent.

We must remember sealift depends on militarily obligated Merchant Marine Officers. The U.S. Navy does not transport equipment, tanks, fuel, and troops. That responsibility falls to the U.S. Merchant Marine.

USMMA graduates are the backbone of our sealift force, and without them, our ability to sustain combat operations across oceans is in jeopardy.

In short: no sealift, no successful war plan.

For too long, the USMMA has been overlooked and underfunded. Yet it remains the only federal service academy whose graduates are trained for commanding the military sealift.

This year, thanks to bold Presidential action and bipartisan leadership in Congress, we finally have the chance to fix that. We can modernize the Academy, restore our sealift capability, and ensure that America regains its dominant maritime power.

Maritime strength doesn’t begin in the shipyard. It begins at the USMMA.

CAPT James F. Tobin is a graduate and President/CEO of the US Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association & Foundation and represents over 13,000 living graduates of the USMMA.