Any info on NAVY welding and inspection programs?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 06-13-2008 02:57 Edited 06-13-2008 03:06

I was a Navy aerospace welder back in the mid/late 1980s Aviation Structural Mechanic (AMS)

Good training.. Good MOS... My career would be nothng like it is now without the experience, mentoring and training I recieved in the Navy. Best move I ever made.

However, very few Aircraft welders are required and they don't generally send people to exotic metals welding school on the first enlistment unless they enter the service with some very strong skills to start with, or the division you are assigned to needs welders (which won't happen in a squadron) and all the major planets in the Solar System come into allignment. In Navy Aviation I think the NDI inspection field is about the same. Welders and Inspectors are almost always attached to AIMD (intermediate level) maintainence bases..(shore duty) and with the current situation in the U.S. Military I'm betting that E-1's and new recruits are going to see a Sea Duty hitch first.

However.. Hull Techs and CBs do welding pretty commonly. There are a good number of Navy vets on this forum with shipboard welding experience, both as enlisted folks and as civillians who worked in the shipyards...

They will chime in too.

As far as recruiters go; enter every stage of your enlistment with the attitude that nothing promised is real until you see it in writing.. The needs of the Navy always come first, and that is as it should be, but they will try very hard to honor what they put into writing... Things a recruiter might say have authority only as far as the door of his office.

Please don't take this post as a discouragement... but rather the opposit. Serving your country right now is noble, honorable and makes sense for many career paths as well.

By mtwelder Date 06-14-2008 22:12

Thanks for your info...its good to hear from people who have been involved.

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 06-16-2008 02:11 Edited 06-16-2008 02:19

I was a Navy Welder from 83-88. The Welding School was 30 Weeks long. That school was after A School which at that time was 11 weeks.

http://www.aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?tid=8517 is a thread that may be of interest to you .

So is http://www.aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?tid=2133

By weldnfool (*)

Date 07-08-2008 07:24

Navy Welders,
I think that anybody that learned and started as welder in the Navy carries a reputation w/ them that
is respected and considered as a welder that, unlike many in this trade, let his work speak for itself
reflect the pride as a Navy Welder. I started welding in the Navy in 76, went to JC for an AA, and Lincoln Electric and been welding ever since. I was an Instructor in CA State prison for 12 yrs. and some of the best welders Ive seen over the yrs have one thing in common, and thats the opportunity of unlimited resources, consumables to burn, and lots of practice. The Navy and State prisons are the only programs
I know of that have what it takes, and thats "TIME". Any GOOD WELDER will tell ya he learned from mistakes and costly repairs, that over time, makes ya better w/ every one. Unlike many other ways to learn this skill, Navy Welders and Inmates have the luxury to learn and practice and it dont cost nothin.
So instead of robbin a liquore store to learn welding in the pen, the Navy will give ya skills and experience
that will set ya apart the welders that just talk about what they can do, and there are many.
Good Luck

By 250-1500 (*)

Date 07-11-2008 02:45 Edited 07-11-2008 08:11

The vast majority of the work done on US Navy vessels today including all new construction and most of the overhaul work is done by private shipyards such as Electric Boat Co, Bath Iron works, Newport News, Ingalls, and NASSCO. These companies and other sub-contractors employ many thousands of welders and inspectors and are always looking for more. You said that you want to know more about welding and/or NDT "through the navy" so I am assuming you want to know about working for the navy in a more direct way without having to join up of course. This means you will probably want to look into the Navy Yards. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton Washington. The Navy yards primary function is naval nuclear work, this means that they work almost exclusively on submarines and aircraft carriers. That's not to say that the only work they do is nuclear, quite the opposite actually. If you be more specific about what you want to know I may be able to give you more answers.

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 07-12-2008 03:05 Edited 07-13-2008 10:39

What type of training do the shipyard welders go through before they actually get to weld on a ship. Do they just show up and test like the rest of the civilian construction or do they go through training to familarize them with the applicable codes and standards.

I often thought they must have went through some GREAT training because when I was active duty, we (shop 26A on the tender) would build a glovebag, cutout a 1" CHV, prep it, fit, weld it, rt it, decon it, and insulate it all in 3-4 12 hour shifts. PSNS would come over to Holy Loch, on another boat same class, same valve number, and do the same job in 7 or 8 shifts and we would still remove interference, provide radcon, and lag it. I figured we must have been missing out on some critical steps that they hadn't covered in the 30 weeks of school we went through.

We did an socket weld in the RC in 3 shifts. I watched a shipyard inspector burnout his exposure for the quarter inspecting the finals on the socket weld only to come out of the RC and say someone else would have to do the final since he didn't have a fillet weld gage. He brought the PT kit but didn't PT it since he couldn't do the VT. Another shipyard worker had to come down while I had to stay on as control point watch makin my 3 per hour. That was their 5th or beginning of 6th shift for the same valve, different boat.

So I figured since the shipyard guys were making 20+ an hour back in the mid 80's and I was making about 3.00 an hour, they musta really known something.

I am sure things are different now. I understand the Navy Nuc Welder program is no more for Active Duty people. I imagine it is due to the efficiency of the shipyard people. I have quite a few memories of interaction with some of the shipyard welders . At that time, they worked at a different pace then we did. Most were VERY slick welders. They just semed to have a different work ethic than active duty welders. The fitter and two welders with a helper on a 4" Seawater Valve always tickled me. We tied it back with spanish windlasses and went to cuttin, take it to 31A for machining and new seats, carried it back to the boat, prepped it, fit it, welded it, and routed the subsafe package for closing. All with two people. Sometimes the SAME two people that had been up since 5 am the day before.

I hope your not the editor of that book you use for your name ! I went through a NR audit and the guy who was talking to me asking me questions about it was bothered that I answered the questions without looking them up. I asked him if he thought I was wrong and he indicated it was the fact that I answered the questions without looking them up. I asked him how he knew if I was right wrong without looking it up. He quickly told me he was the Editor.

OK enough sea stories, I'd be interested in hearing how it is now since my view is from 20 years ago. Civilian or Active Duty experiences from more current times would be interesting. Any current Active Duty 4955's or 56's here or shipyard welders. Whats the training like now ?

"16 empty tubes, a mushroom cloud, and its miller time" was one of the things I remember from Bremerton, besides the "Red Rooster". Of course the guy making 20+ an hour to JUST sharpen tungsten was something to recall. Mirror finished, PT'd and ready to bury in some mirror welded HPD spitting out water while your trying to close it up.

Have a good one.

Gerald Austin

By 250-1500 (*)

Date 07-12-2008 04:37

Q: What type of training do the shipyard welders go through before they actually get to weld on a ship
A: they just show up and test like the rest of the civilian construction and they go through training to familarize them with the applicable codes and standards. thats basic structural though, hangers, coamings and other silly bull ****. you have to prove yourself before they send you to the SUBSAFE class or let you do UT/RT work. and nuc is a whole different world all hand picked very slick welders.

getting selected to actually come in and take the test is the hard part. There are thousands of resume's in the database.
Top step pipe welders make 29 somethin now.

the only thing i ever edited was my last post ... and maybe this one too if i screw it up.

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 07-12-2008 05:10

Thanks for the info. Its kinda weird but I remember more about the six years working on boats than most everything else.

It sounds like there no welder shortage there .

By 250-1500 (*)

Date 07-12-2008 22:52

There is indeed a shortage of welders here at PSNS thats why I decided to reply to mtwelders thread. Now is probably the best time there has been in the past 10 years to try and hire in. Something like 30 % of shop 26 (and others) are retiring in the next 5-10 years. The average age journeyman in my shop is like 45 or something. They hired a bunch of people in the late 80s early 90s and then very few people from the mid 90s to around 2001. Attrition is a big problem not only here but all over this country The UA is going through the same thing. There just aren't enough skilled welders or young people that are interested and dedicated enough to become skilled welders.

16 empty tubes, a mushroom cloud, and its miller time. Ive heard that but I cant remember where. Must be a bangor thing.

What the hell is a red rooster? Bremerton sucks!

Nose, the guy that used to grind tungsten just retired a few months ago, he's a great guy he gave me my first body cooler, doing very well for a guy that grinded half a million pieces of 2%. I think we get our mirror finish tungsten from diamond ground products now.

Lastly, NOT a good idea to talk about jobs u did in the RC on the internet, even if it was 20 years ago. Might wanna edit your post before you end up in another NRRO audit.