Is EN (Engineman) a Good Rating?

AIT / Training

10 weeks

Training Location

Great Lakes, IL

Career Field

Engineering

What the Recruiter Says

You'll maintain diesel engines and gas turbines on Navy patrol craft and MCM ships — the propulsion systems that keep smaller fleet vessels operational in conditions that test every mechanical system on board. The fault diagnosis experience is genuine, the hands-on mechanical training is real, and the USCG Marine Engineer licensing pathway is open when you separate. Commercial shipping, ferry operations, harbor craft companies, and civilian shipyards hire Navy ENs specifically because they know what they're getting: someone who's actually fixed a diesel engine under pressure, not just read about it.

What It's Actually Like

If the ship's main propulsion is diesel rather than gas turbine or nuclear, you are the one keeping it alive. LCUs, patrol craft, YTBs, small combatants — the diesel world of the Navy is less glamorous than the carrier strike group but significantly more likely to put you in a bilge with your hands inside an operating engine. The Detroit Diesel and Cummins engines you maintain are commercial variants, which is either reassuring or infuriating depending on whether parts availability is better or worse than NAVSUP allows on any given day. Small craft operations mean small crew, which means you are the engineer, the mechanic, the parts chaser, and the person who writes the maintenance log. SWCC support craft, NSW support vessels, harbor tugs: these are EN billets where you are genuinely essential and everyone knows it. The maritime industry civilian pipeline is direct — QMED, licensed engineer, shipyard maintenance. Merchant marine licensing examiners understand EN experience. The Inland Waterways and Great Lakes commercial fleets will hire you. So will every industrial facility with a diesel generator that needs someone who can actually diagnose it rather than just call the manufacturer.