Summer Training provides Navy scholarship midshipmen with the opportunity to experience the operational Navy. A summer cruise lasts three to four weeks and can take a midshipman all over the world. The 1/C Summer cruise is a requirement for commissioning. These experiences enable midshipmen to prioritize their inputs for service assignments.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible for summer cruise, a midshipman must be on scholarship or achieve advanced standing while in the college program. There are three cruises available to midshipmen: 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class.
3rd Class Cruise
3rd Class cruise occurs between your freshman and sophomore years and is designed as an orientation cruise. At this point you may know you want to be in the Navy but are not sure what you want to do when you get commissioned.
The Navy therefore exposes you to all four of its communities. Midshipmen at Ohio State attend 3rd Class cruise in San Diego, California, or in Norfolk, Virginia, and spend a week with each community. During surface week, midshipmen experience shipboard life, learn how to Conn a ship, have weapons demonstrations by the U.S. Navy SEALs and much more. During submarine week, midshipmen spend a week onboard a nuclear submarine and experience all facets, from the bridge and engineering to the sonar and torpedo rooms. During aviation week, midshipmen view static displays of naval aircraft and experience Naval Aviator training. Finally, during Marine week, midshipmen sleep in Marine barracks, learn to fire small arms weapons and may even conduct an amphibious assault.
2nd Class Cruise
2nd Class cruise is known as the “blue jacket” cruise and orients you to the enlisted side of the fleet. Midshipmen are assigned a "running mate" (an enlisted petty officer) and experience everything they do. As a future officer, this gives you an outstanding perspective as to how enlisted sailors or Marines live and work in the fleet.
1st Class Cruise
1st Class cruise is the officer orientation cruise. Usually by this point in your career as a midshipman you have a good idea of which community you are interested in joining upon commissioning. This cruise attempts to pair you up with a junior officer in your desired community to learn what to expect upon commissioning and entrance into the active fleet.
Marine Option
Marine-option midshipmen attend the same summer training as their Navy counterparts following their freshman year. They attend Mountain Warfare Training Center near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for approximately 10 days between their sophomore and junior years. After their junior year, Marine-option midshipmen attend Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Quantico, Virginia, for six weeks. Successful completion of OCS is a requirement for commissioning in the Marine Corps.