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This paper examines the determinants of a mariner's ship-handling proficiency. The understanding of this theoretical relationship affects the approach that Surface Warfare Officers School (SWOS) utilizes in preparing officers of the deck (OOD) for assignment on surface combatants. At the ship level, budget reductions may further complicate the process of developing and maintaining proficient mariners by removing opportunities available to develop experience and currency-related skills. There are no data-focused studies available to explain the mechanisms through which mariners' skills are developed or maintained in the Navy. We examined the optimal metrics for measuring OOD performance through a proficiency-prediction model, using cross-sectional data from 164 first-tour OODs who were tested across 61 ships. We find that mariners' skills, knowledge, and experience on the bridge are correlates of proficiency. This finding suggests that policies designed to encourage additional opportunities for deliberate practice mitigates skill degradation in the short term and leads to mastery of maritime skills in the long term. Policymakers should leverage simulator training to increase the proficiency of OODs through experience and currency-building evolutions. Simulators provide a substantial return on investment and offer unlimited combinations of experience-building scenarios that are difficult to duplicate in real-world practice with limited resources.This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.In the name of efficiency, policymakers continuously seek avenues that reduce costs for their organizations. When policymakers take these reductions too far, effectiveness suffers, and the results can be catastrophic. Several major ship collisions in 2017 catalyzed a deep reflection on the constraints the Surface Navy faces. Since the 1990s, the volume of commercial maritime traffic increased by 400 percent (Department of the Navy, 2017). During the same period, officers of the deck (OODs) lost half of their opportunities to hone their maritime skills due to Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) over accession and overall reductions in Fleet steaming time. Proposed solutions to improve mariner proficiency vary significantly in cost, from the purchase of dedicated Yard Patrol craft (YP) to gain hands-on experience at sea to increased use of simulators ashore. Identifying how any solution impacts the determinants of proficiency is critical as we determine the most effective allocation of training resources for a new generation of OODs.

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