Skip to main content
HonestMOS
●InvestigationsHow EUCOM shelved a tax break for 9,000 troops in Poland — for five years.→
←Back to IC Interior Communications Electrician — overview, pay, training, civilian translation, reviews
ICE1-E3

Interior Communications Electrician

E-1 to E-3 (Junior Enlisted) · Navy

E1–E3E-4E-5E-6E-7E8–E9
HEADS UP

IC 'A' School at Joint Base Charleston teaches you the theory. The ship teaches you the rate. The first six months aboard you will trace more cable runs, execute more PMS cards, and stand more sound-powered phone watch than you imagined — and the LPO will measure you entirely on whether your PMS logs are honest and your PQS is moving. Start the NWAE bibliography for IC3 before the LPO has to tell you to.

The Honest MOS Read
Interior Communications Electrician is one of the most technically specific ratings in the surface Navy — narrow enough that the fleet has never had a large pipeline, broad enough that the systems you own touch every major shipboard function from navigation to damage control. When you check aboard fresh from IC 'A' School at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, you arrive knowing the theory of 1MC announcing systems, gyrocompass operation, sound-powered phone circuits, and battle lanterns. The ship immediately reveals how much is left to learn. The IC work center on a surface combatant or amphibious ship owns a remarkable breadth of systems: the 1MC general announcing circuit that the CO uses to speak to every person aboard, the 2MC engineering plant intercom, the 5MC damage-control announcing loop the XO reads during general quarters, sound-powered phone circuits linking every battle station, gyrocompasses and their repeater networks feeding the bridge and combat systems, battle lanterns on every damage-control deck, course recorders, rudder angle indicators, and the IC switchboard that ties the electrical distribution for all of it together. At ICFN through ICSA, you do not own any of that independently — you work under the LPO's supervision, executing Planned Maintenance System cards, tracing cable runs, testing circuits, and logging every result in OMMS-NG. The unglamorous reality is that the rate is built on maintenance discipline. The 3-M Planned Maintenance System is not background noise — it is the legal record of every inspection, test, and corrective action on every IC system. An ISIC inspector who finds a deferred MRC with your initials and no documented reason does not distinguish between 'too busy' and 'didn't care.' Your LPO does not make that distinction either. The CSMP (Current Ship's Maintenance Plan) is the running discrepancy list; an honest CSMP entry — system affected, fault description, corrective action attempted, parts on order — is the product the maintenance officer uses to request funding. A vague or incomplete CSMP entry delays the repair and reflects on the IC who wrote it. Watch qualification starts immediately. As a striker or apprentice IC, you will be posted to sound-powered phone circuits during underway evolutions, GQ drills, and sea and anchor detail. The phone talker's job is simple in theory — relay messages accurately, maintain circuit continuity, confirm receipt — and punishing in practice when you garble a report to the bridge during a man-overboard drill. The IC room watch qualification on surface combatants and the relevant platform PQS lines are the visible milestones the LCPO tracks. They are not optional. The NWAE cycle for IC3 comes faster than first-tour sailors believe. The Bibliography for Advancement Exam Study (BIB), published each cycle by MyNavyHR, names the references — the NSTM Chapter 430 sections, the applicable technical manuals, the rate training manual publication, the occupational standards in NAVPERS 18068F. The IC2 who is two paygrades ahead of you pulled the BIB on arrival. The LPO knows who has a study plan and who does not, usually within the first month.
Career Arc
  • 01Check aboard from IC 'A' School (Joint Base Charleston, SC) — reporting aboard a surface combatant, amphibious ship, or shore command with IC work center ownership.
  • 02First 30 days: work center orientation, ship's safety training, damage control qualification baseline, and first 3-M PMS card assignment under LPO supervision.
  • 03PQS advancement: platform-specific watchstation quals (IC room, sound-powered phone circuits, damage control) tracked by the LCPO.
  • 04First six months: NWAE BIB for IC3 pulled and study plan established; at least one system-level operator qualification (1MC control, gyrocompass room watch) signed off.
  • 05Nine-to-twelve month mark: PQS substantially complete, watch qual posted on the watchbill, LPO initiating NEC or advanced-course conversation.
  • 06IC3 NWAE cycle — semi-annual advancement examination under NEAS; FMS score combining exam, eval, time in rate, awards, and education.
  • 07Post-advancement to IC3: work center ownership expands, CSMP entries carry your signature, and the NEC/advanced-course pipeline conversation becomes real.
Common Screwups
  • ×Failing to start the NWAE BIB until two months before the exam window. The IC3 advancement cycle is competitive and the bibliography is long — the ICFN who treats it as a sprint loses to the one who treated it as a six-month campaign.
  • ×Logging PMS maintenance actions as complete without finishing all steps. An ISIC inspector reads the MRC completion date against the OMMS-NG entry timestamp and the equipment's physical condition simultaneously.
  • ×Missing a battle lantern discrepancy on a cursory inspection and logging the zone 'satisfactory.' The one dead battery in a battle lantern you skipped is the one the damage-control repair locker opens during a GQ drill in the dark.
  • ×Working on energized IC switchboard circuits without establishing lockout/tagout per the ship's Electrical Safety Working Procedures (ESWP). NSTM Chapter 300 exists because people died before it was written.
  • ×Letting a behavioral or legal incident (NJP, drug screening failure, DUI) close the NEC and advancement pipeline at the ICFN/ICSA tier. The IC rate is small enough that command leadership knows every name on the roster — the wrong way is the fast way to be remembered.

A Day in the Life

  • 0530Reveille / personal PT or ship's 0600 PT formation depending on homeport schedule and underway status.
  • 0630Breakfast and morning hygiene. Uniform of the Day posted in the berthing compartment — working uniform for in-port days.
  • 0730Morning muster at the IC work center. LPO assigns the day's PMS cards. You receive your MRC assignment and pull the applicable NSTM Chapter 430 section and equipment TM before moving.
  • 0800PMS execution begins. First task: gyrocompass repeater checks in the IC room and bridge repeater log. Document results in OMMS-NG.
  • 0900Battle lantern inspection on the assigned damage-control zone. Test each lantern under load; log every discrepancy on the zone sheet before moving to the next space.
  • 1000Sound-powered phone circuit test on the assigned battle circuit. Two-man team: one at the IC room, one tracing stations. Document every station tested.
  • 1100PMS card closeout and OMMS-NG entry for morning work. If parts are needed, generate the CSMP entry and hand the parts request to the supply petty officer before noon.
  • 1130Noon meal.
  • 1230PQS study period — ship's PQS qualification lines, applicable TM sections, NWAE BIB reading. LPO checks study log on Fridays.
  • 1330Afternoon PMS: 1MC amplifier check or IC switchboard inspection under LPO supervision if the task involves energized components and requires two-person ESWP compliance.
  • 1500Underway watch rotation if the ship is at sea — IC room watch or sound-powered phone talker billet during scheduled maneuvering evolutions.
  • 1600Work center cleanup. All tools accounted for and stowed. Open MRCs documented, reason for deferral in writing if applicable.
  • 1700Evening meal. Liberty call in port if the duty section rotation allows.
  • 1900-2100NWAE study — BIB reading (NSTM Chapter 430 sections, rate training manual chapters, occupational standards) on a weekly schedule. The LPO does not check every night; you check yourself.

Weekly Cadence

In a typical in-port week the IC work center runs PMS in the mornings and corrective maintenance and PQS study in the afternoons. Monday opens with the LPO's work-center meeting — current CSMP status, MRC schedule for the week, parts outstanding, any ISIC or Type Commander reporting due. You leave that meeting with a specific list of tasks for each day. When the ship is underway the tempo changes fundamentally. PMS does not stop — it shifts to the maintenance windows the ship's schedule allows between watches and battle drills. Battle lanterns get inspected before every major evolution regardless of the PMS calendar, because the damage-control assistant does not want to discover a dead zone during a real flooding event. GQ drills run at irregular intervals and you stand your assigned watch circuit for every one. The rhythm that matters most for an ICFN is Friday afternoon. The sailors who secured their work, documented their MRCs honestly, and left the work center clean get liberty call on time. The ones who pencil-whipped a card and left a tool unaccounted for do not — and the LPO does not announce which is which; he simply calls the names of the sailors who are clear to go.

Key Skills — How to Drill Each

  1. 01
    Execute PMS MRCs on IC work center systems — 1MC, 2MC, battle lanterns, sound-powered phones, gyrocompass repeaters — with the MDS feedback card completed correctly and turned in on time.
    Read the MRC completely before you touch the system. Every step has a sequence and a reason; skipping step 4 because the space is hot creates the fault you will be chasing next week. Complete the feedback card with actual observations — 'lubricated per step 6, no wear found, returned to service' — not 'performed per MRC.' The LPO reads feedback cards and the ISIC reads them during inspections.
  2. 02
    Test a sound-powered phone circuit end-to-end: ringer check, intelligibility check, grounds check with a sound-powered phone test set; document discrepancies in OMMS-NG before leaving the space.
    Work the circuit from both ends before closing it out — a one-ended test hides intermittent grounds in the far-station wiring. Document every station you tested, the test result, and the name of the sailor who verified the far-station response. A circuit that tests clean on paper but fails at battle stations during GQ is a paperwork problem and a safety problem simultaneously.
  3. 03
    Inspect and test battle lanterns per NSTM Chapter 430 requirements — battery voltage under load, lamp function, mounting condition — and log every failed unit on the CSMP before the next evolution.
    A battery that reads 12V on a multimeter may read 8V under 500mA load. Test under load using the test set specified in the applicable technical manual, not just a voltmeter. The zones with the highest battle-lantern density are the same zones where flooding, fire, and smoke are most likely to cut shore power — the zone map drives your inspection priority, not alphabetical order.
  4. 04
    Read a ship's interior communications wiring diagram and trace a circuit from the IC switchboard to a remote station without LPO supervision by the six-month mark.
    Start with the IC switchboard drawing and identify your ship's distribution architecture before you trace individual circuits. The ship's as-built wiring diagram (not the stock NAVSEA drawing — the as-built version the ship's electrical officer holds) is the only accurate map of what is actually installed. Learn to read revision blocks and deviation notes, because twenty-year-old ships have twenty years of field modifications layered on the original design.
  5. 05
    Perform basic gyrocompass repeater checks and log sync errors per the applicable NAVSEA technical manual; know what error tolerance is normal and what goes on the CSMP.
    The applicable TM for your ship's gyrocompass system has a tolerance table. Memorize the normal operating range for repeater sync error on your specific installation before the first underway. A repeater that drifts outside tolerance during a high-speed maneuvering evolution is a navigation safety issue, not a paperwork metric — the navigator will ask you the specification number when you report the discrepancy.
  6. 06
    Log every maintenance action in OMMS-NG accurately; one sloppy deferred item with your initials is the first thing the ISIC inspector finds.
    The OMMS-NG entry structure matters: system, equipment identification number, fault description, corrective action, material condition, and whether the discrepancy is open or closed. 'Performed maintenance' is not a corrective action. The LCPO runs an OMMS-NG audit before every ISIC visit and the entries with incomplete fields are corrected with your name attached to the revision — fix it right the first time.

Manuals & References — What Chapters Matter

  • NSTM Chapter 430 — Interior Communications
    The primary technical authority for every IC system you maintain. Chapter 430 covers announcing systems (1MC, 2MC, 5MC), sound-powered phone circuits, battle lanterns, gyrocompasses and repeater systems, and the IC switchboard. The LPO will hand you a specific section on arrival — read the whole chapter before the month is out.
  • OPNAVINST 4790.4 — Ships 3-M Systems Procedures
    The rule book behind every PMS card you execute. Understanding why the 3-M system exists — as a maintenance management and readiness-reporting tool, not just a paperwork drill — changes how you fill out feedback cards and CSMP entries. The ISIC inspector cites this instruction when he finds a maintenance discrepancy.
  • NAVSEA system-specific technical manuals for your ship's gyrocompass, announcing systems, and IC switchboard
    The TM number is on the equipment nameplate. NSTM Chapter 430 is the umbrella; the equipment-specific TM is the fault-isolation and maintenance procedure source. The LPO keeps them in the IC room — find them in the first week and know which TM covers which system.
  • NAVPERS 18068F — Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and Personnel Classifications
    The NEC entries for the IC rate live here. Read the occupational standards for IC3 before you talk to the career counselor — the NEC pathways (NEC 2785 and applicable advanced NECs) are the career architecture of the rate.
  • IC Rate NAVEDTRA training manual and current NWAE Bibliography (BIB)
    Pull the current BIB from MyNavyHR on arrival — not the version a shipmate saved on the shared drive. The BIB lists exactly which publications the NWAE will draw from. Build a weekly study plan before the LPO asks if you have one.
  • OPNAVINST 6110.1 — Navy Physical Readiness Program
    Your PRT and BCA standard from day one regardless of ship type or homeport. The physical readiness requirement does not change because you are a technician rather than a boatswain's mate.

Standards — How to Hit Each

  • PQS completion and watch quals signed off on the LCPO's timeline.
    Map the PQS signature path in the first week — identify which watchstation quals feed which PQS line items and which petty officers are authorized to sign each line. Track your open items on a written log you show the LPO weekly without being asked. The sailor who drags PQS becomes the sailor who misses the advancement window.
  • PMS completion rate at or above work-center average — deferred MRCs with your initials require a documented reason.
    Before deferring an MRC, establish whether the deferral is authorized under the ship's 3-M program and get the reason documented in writing. 'Equipment in use' and 'parts not on hand' are legitimate deferral reasons with documented entries. 'Forgot' is not.
  • PRT Good Low or higher; BCA in standard.
    The IC rate is a technical rate on a ship that has berthing, food, and limited exercise options underway. Build a routine that survives a 30-day underway — find the shipboard gym hours, know the PRT standards by age group from OPNAVINST 6110.1, and do not let six months of sea time become six months of deferred fitness.
  • NWAE study habit established before the six-month mark — BIB pulled, weekly study plan built, study log shown to the LPO.
    The NWAE BIB for IC3 is not short. Break it into weekly reading assignments weighted toward NSTM Chapter 430, the rate training manual, and the occupational standards sections. The LPO can tell the difference between a sailor who studied and one who crammed — and so can the advancement exam.
  • At least one system-specific operator qualification signed off before the nine-month mark.
    Pick the qualification that feeds the most PQS lines and the most watch rotations — usually the IC room watch or the 1MC control station qualification on your platform. Identify the sign-off authority and schedule the eval before the LPO has to schedule it for you.

Technical Mistakes — Concrete Consequences

  • Closing a PMS MRC as 'completed' when you only ran half the steps because the space was hot and the watch team needed you somewhere else.
    The ISIC inspector reads the checklist completion date against the equipment's physical condition — if the lubrication step you skipped left a dry bearing, the bearing seizes within the maintenance cycle and the paperwork trail leads directly to your initials.
  • Substituting a fuse with the wrong amperage rating because the correct one is not in the parts kit.
    An oversized fuse in an IC switchboard circuit removes the designed overload protection. The next fault on that circuit — a shorted announcing amplifier, a ground in a long cable run — clears the fuse eventually, but not before the heat event you just enabled has worked on the wiring insulation for weeks.
  • Working on energized IC switchboard circuits without establishing lockout/tagout per the ESWP and NSTM Chapter 300.
    The IC switchboard distributes 120VAC and sometimes 440VAC to announcing amplifiers, gyrocompass power supplies, and battle-lantern chargers. Arc flash and electrocution are not theoretical risks — the ESWP and NSTM Chapter 300 procedures exist because the voltage present in an IC distribution panel can kill a healthy sailor in under a second.
  • Logging a battle lantern as 'satisfactory' after only checking the lamp without testing the battery under load.
    The damage-control repair locker opens in the dark because flooding tripped the main breaker in that zone. The battle lantern you certified as satisfactory gives three seconds of light before the load-test you skipped would have predicted — the repair locker team is now working by touch in a flooding space.
  • Telling the OOD the 1MC is 'operational' based on a quick test from the IC room without checking remote-station amplifier output levels.
    The 1MC amplifier in the forward damage-control zone is at 40% output — audible in the IC room during a quiet test, inaudible over diesel noise and rushing water in the space it serves during a casualty. The OOD passed the CO's 'all stations manned and ready' report based on your call.

Career Decisions at This Rank

  • Which NEC pipeline to pursue: NEC 2785 (Interior Communications Electrician advanced) vs. a cross-rate conversation vs. staying broadside.
    The IC rate is small and technically specific enough that the NEC pipeline discussion with your LCPO is relevant earlier than in most ratings. NEC 2785 and the IC advanced course at the applicable Fleet Technical Support Center build the credentials that make you the IC2 the division officer calls by name. Cross-rating into ET (Electronics Technician) or EM (Electrician's Mate) is possible at E3-E4 with command support — the skills transfer, but the advancement competition changes dramatically. Staying broadside (no NEC, generalist IC) is a viable path to IC3 and IC2 but narrows the options at IC1 when the LPO billet requires technical authority the NEC holders have and you do not.
  • First re-enlistment: stay and make IC a career, or separate at the end of first obligation.
    The IC rate's civilian market is real but niche: marine electronics technicians at shipyards (NASSCO, Bath Iron Works, Huntington Ingalls), NAVSEASYSCOM contractor positions, commercial gyrocompass and marine communications systems maintainers. The DoD contracting market for IC-credentialed technicians is thin at E3-E4 and stronger at E6+. The decision to re-enlist for IC1 and ICC is largely about whether you want to be a technical leader — the rate rewards people who stay. If the sea-to-shore rotation and deployment pace do not fit your life, separate early and let the civilian electronics market find you; the wiring theory transfers even if the exact systems do not.
  • Surface Warfare Specialist (SWS) qualification — pursue aggressively or let it develop naturally.
    The Surface Warfare device is not required at ICFN/ICSA, but the qualification process (ship's systems knowledge, watch qualifications, oral board) is the same skeleton that builds the IC room watch qual and the platform PQS. Sailors who pursue SWS at E3 arrive at E4 with a fundamentally better understanding of how the IC systems they maintain connect to the ship's operational architecture. The LPO notices — and recommends the E4 advancement candidates based partly on who is engaged with the ship, not just the work center.

How the Seat Varies by Unit Type

  • Surface Combatant (DDG, CG)
    The highest-density IC environment in the surface fleet. A DDG carries 1MC amplifier zones across 40-plus decks, multiple gyrocompass systems, a full IC switchboard, and a battle-lantern inventory that represents hundreds of individual test items per PMS cycle. The work center is typically two to five ICs, which means every ICFN gets real system access early. The operational tempo during deployments is high — SWO certification and watch rotation are aggressive, and GQ drills run frequently.
  • Amphibious Ship (LHD, LPD, LSD)
    Larger hull than a DDG with a correspondingly larger IC suite — more announcing zones, more sound-powered phone circuits, more battle-lantern inventory. The work center may be slightly larger but the pace of PMS tasking reflects the hull size. The amphibious mission profile means frequent embarkation and debarkation of Marine units, which creates additional 1MC and 5MC operational demand during well-deck operations.
  • Small Combatant (LCS, PC, Coastal/Riverine)
    A smaller IC suite with fewer sailors. On a Littoral Combat Ship the IC work center may be one or two ICs serving under a broader electrical division. The advantage for a junior IC is more visible ownership of specific systems earlier — you are not the seventh petty officer in a work center of ten, you are one of two. The disadvantage is that the advanced-course and C-school rotation may be harder to access from a small combatant's command priority list.
  • Shore Command / FTSC Detachment
    A tour at a Fleet Technical Support Center detachment or a shore command with IC system ownership gives a junior IC unusually broad system exposure — field service teams work across multiple ship classes and installation types. The trade-off is that shore billets for ICSFNs are limited and the career counselor steers first-tour sailors toward sea billets for advancement credit.

What Good Looks Like at This Rank

The good ICFN is the sailor the LPO sends alone to trace the 2MC fault in the forward engineering spaces at 0200, and who comes back with the affected cable run identified, the NSTM Chapter 430 section that governs the repair, and a parts-request number — not a shrug and 'I couldn't find it.' His PMS cards are complete before he asks for liberty on Friday. His CSMP entries are specific enough that the supply petty officer can order the correct part without calling him. By the nine-month mark his PQS is substantially done, his IC room watch qual is posted on the watchbill, and the LCPO is already naming him in the NEC conversation. He does not need to be reminded that the NWAE BIB exists — his study log is on the LPO's table and he can explain the difference between a 1MC amplifier fault and a 2MC amplifier fault without pulling the TM. The thing that actually separates him from the average ICFN is not technical brilliance — it is maintenance honesty. He logs what he found, not what he wanted to find. He defers what needs deferring with a documented reason instead of pencil-whipping the card. That honesty compounds over time into a CSMP that briefs cleanly before an ISIC inspection, and the LCPO remembers who built it.

Preview — The Next Rank

IC3 (E-4) is the rank where the work center stops treating you as purely supervised labor and starts holding you accountable for a section of the CSMP with your signature on it. The LPO begins framing you as the petty officer who trains the next ICFN — which means the skills you are building now (honest PMS documentation, accurate CSMP entries, circuit tracing without supervision) become the skills you teach rather than just practice. The advancement to IC3 is a NWAE-based gate — exam score, eval grade, time in rate, awards, and education combined into the Final Multiple Score. The IC3 NWAE draws heavily from NSTM Chapter 430, the applicable system TMs, and the occupational standards. The sailors who started their BIB at the six-month mark show up to the exam with a studied baseline; the ones who started at the two-month mark show up hoping. Once pinned IC3, the NEC conversation becomes a direct action item. The advanced IC course and the applicable NEC pipeline are the technical credentials that differentiate IC3s from each other on the IC2 advancement slate. The LPO already knows which IC3s are on that track and which are not.
FAQ

IC E1-E3 — Frequently Asked Questions

Q01What does a E1-E3 IC (Interior Communications Electrician) actually do?
Fresh out of IC "A" School at Goose Creek, South Carolina, you check aboard a surface combatant or amphibious ship and immediately fall in under a work center that owns more systems than you can name yet: 1MC general announcing, 2MC engineering plant intercom, battle lanterns, sound-powered phone circuits, gyrocompasses, rudder angle indicators, course recorders, and the damage-control announcing loops the Repair Locker relies on during general quarters.
Q02What's the most important thing to know as a E1-E3 IC?
IC 'A' School at Joint Base Charleston teaches you the theory.
Q03What does a typical day look like for a E1-E3 IC?
Time-blocked day at the E1-E3 IC rank tier: 0530 Reveille / personal PT or ship's 0600 PT formation depending on homeport schedule and underway status, 0630 Breakfast and morning hygiene. Uniform of the Day posted in the berthing compartment — working uniform for in-port days, 0730 Morning muster at the IC work center. LPO assigns the day's PMS cards. You receive your MRC assignment and pull the applicable NSTM Chapter 430 section and equipment TM before moving, 0800 PMS execution begins. First task: gyrocompass repeater checks in the IC room and bridge repeater log.…
Q04What mistakes get E1-E3 IC soldiers fired or relieved?
Failing to start the NWAE BIB until two months before the exam window. The IC3 advancement cycle is competitive and the bibliography is long — the ICFN who treats it as a sprint loses to the one who treated it as a six-month campaign; Logging PMS maintenance actions as complete without finishing all steps. An ISIC inspector reads the MRC completion date against the OMMS-NG entry timestamp and the equipment's physical condition simultaneously;…
Q05What career decisions matter most at the E1-E3 IC rank tier?
Which NEC pipeline to pursue: NEC 2785 (Interior Communications Electrician advanced) vs. a cross-rate conversation vs. staying broadside — The IC rate is small and technically specific enough that the NEC pipeline discussion with your LCPO is relevant earlier than in most ratings. NEC 2785 and the IC advanced course at the applicable Fleet Technical Support Center build the credentials that make you the IC2 the division officer calls by name. Cross-rating into ET (Electronics Technician) or EM (Electrician's Mate) is possible at E3-E4 with command support — the skills transfer,…
Q06What's next after E1-E3 for a IC (Interior Communications Electrician) in the Navy?
IC3 (E-4) is the rank where the work center stops treating you as purely supervised labor and starts holding you accountable for a section of the CSMP with your signature on it.
Q07What manuals and regulations does a E1-E3 IC need to know cold?
NSTM Chapter 430 — Interior Communications: the technical manual backbone for every IC system you maintain; live in it before the LPO has to tell you to.; NAVSEA system-specific technical manuals for the gyrocompass, announcing systems, and IC switchboard installed on your ship — the TM number is on the equipment nameplate.; OPNAVINST 4790.4 — Ships 3-M Systems Procedures: the rule book for every PMS card you execute; the ISIC inspector quotes it chapter and verse.

This playbook has no tips yet. Be the first to share what you know.

Published by the Honest MOS Editorial DeskVerified against DoD/.gov sourcesUpdated May 2026Editorial standards