“As an HT, I get great hands-on experience which could qualify me for high-paying welding jobs outside of the Navy.”
“Each day I learn new ways to create and design anything I want.”
Maintain ship's hull, fittings, and piping systems. Perform welding, plumbing, and sheet metal work to keep ships operationally ready.
ASVAB VE+AR+MK: 150
Catalog listing, not a contract offer. Confirm with a recruiter.
Hull Maintenance Technicians are the ship's welders, pipefitters, and metalworkers. Work covers welding and brazing, pipe repair, sheet metal fabrication, and structural repair. You also maintain plumbing and sanitation systems, which is less glamorous but constant. Damage control is central to the rating, including firefighting, flooding response, and emergency repair. Shipboard fabrication often means making a part that cannot be ordered at sea.
You learn welding across multiple processes and positions, plus brazing and cutting. Pipefitting, sheet metal layout, and structural repair are core competencies. The rating teaches blueprint reading and fabrication from drawings. You gain damage control skills including shoring, patching, and dewatering. Many Hull Maintenance Technicians pursue civilian welding certifications.
The job builds genuine craftsmanship, because a weld either holds or it does not. You develop resourcefulness, since at sea you fabricate rather than order. It teaches composure during emergencies, as damage control is this rating's responsibility. Hull Maintenance Technicians tend to become capable, practical people who can fix almost anything. You also gain physical durability from hot, heavy work.
Welding is a licensed, certifiable trade with strong pay and demand across construction, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and pipelines. Certified welders in specialized processes and positions earn well above average, and certification is achievable quickly. Shipyards and marine repair facilities recruit Navy hull technicians specifically. Pipefitting and boilermaker apprenticeships often credit military experience. Many veterans move into welding inspection or non-destructive testing, which pays well and is less physically demanding over time.
Published personal accounts with source links. Each describes an individual experience, not a typical assignment or a guarantee of your own experience.
“As an HT, I get great hands-on experience which could qualify me for high-paying welding jobs outside of the Navy.”
“Each day I learn new ways to create and design anything I want.”
“We’re keeping a carrier alive.”
“We’re revamping the ship just like you would restore an old car. We’re putting a fresh set of power plants in it, touching up the brightwork, making sure all the wires are where they’re supposed to be, and all the lines run where they ’re supposed to go.”
“We’re working on drainage pipes, chill water pipes, potable water, and rehabilitation work on crew heads. Just whatever needs to be fixed.”
Quotes are from U.S. government public-domain news stories (DVIDS, army.mil and other official sources). Individuals and units are named as reported at time of publication.
Your morning begins in the metal shop reviewing hull and piping gripes and laying out the day's welding and fabrication jobs. You repair the ship's structure, plumbing, and piping systems, welding, brazing, and cutting metal to keep the hull watertight and the systems running. Firemain repairs, valve maintenance, and shipboard fabrication projects fill your working hours.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Feb. 29, 2024) Episode two of the “Inside the Rough Life” series highlighting the Hull Maintenance Technicians aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Pimpaka Kruthun)
Official publisher description and direct video page checked; playback not independently watched. Checked 2026-10-25. This assignment may not reflect every posting in this career.
$43,902–$74,948
2026 basic pay only; the same grade and service time pay the same across jobs. Promotions are assumed, not promised. Excludes allowances, bonuses and special pays.
Possibilities for serving Sailors, including those in support roles—not guaranteed admission or awards. Individual eligibility, assignment, selection, available training or competition places and successful qualification apply.
Assignment-dependent qualification and insignia earned aboard a qualifying surface ship or afloat staff—not automatically awarded for this rating.
For enlisted Sailors in an eligible surface assignment, including support ratings. Complete the command's current qualification standards, assessments and approval process. A shore or submarine assignment alone does not establish eligibility; confirm current enrollment rules with the command.
Assignment-dependent aviation qualification and insignia; support Sailors may qualify at authorized aviation commands.
Requires a qualifying aviation assignment or an authorized support-command arrangement, required in-rating technical qualifications and command approval. Current enrollment and pay-grade prerequisites must be checked; this is not a promotion or a badge awarded just for holding this rating.
Restricted to qualifying expeditionary assignments; recognizes tested field and unit-specific proficiency, including support duties.
Requires assignment to a command authorized to administer EXW and completion of its general and unit-specific personnel qualification standards and approval process. Published NSW program evidence establishes this route, not that every Navy unit offers it. Confirm current command authorization and prerequisites.
Sources reviewed . Confirm current course and badge requirements with official school guidance and your unit.
For Navy HT Hull Maintenance Technician, official service-wide guidance and any exact feeder-list matches are distinguished below from unverified specialty-specific requirements. Ranks are not separate jobs, and these possibilities are not guaranteed promotions or available contracts.
Examples of higher service ranks
These are service-wide rank names, not a verified promotion ladder for this specialty. Examples are not exhaustive; appointments sharing a pay grade are not additional promotion steps.
Official military rank referenceThe Navy directs enlisted Sailors to rating-specific Learning and Development Roadmaps (LaDRs), and officers to their community managers and officer career-progression guidance. Rating conversion and commissioning are separate application paths, not automatic promotions.
Navy career planning: LaDRs, officer progression, and commissioningService-level application reference—not a verified next step for this listing
Limited Duty Officer (LDO) and Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) appointments require separate applications and program-specific qualifications. The reviewed active-duty page contains FY28 cycle requirements, not Reserve eligibility. Its 1 October 2026 application deadline has passed; this is not an open application offer or a verified designator match for this listing.
Navy active-duty LDO/CWO applicant requirementsSpecialty-specific advancement, senior assignments, and eligibility for a different personnel category have not been verified for this listing. No feeder eligibility or automatic transition to another specialty is implied.
Advancement depends on current service rules, performance, required education, qualifications, selection, and authorized positions—not simply years served. Confirm current requirements with an official recruiter or career counselor.
Related military jobs below are for exploration, not promised progression or confirmed transfer paths.
Sources reviewed 2026-10-03. This is a partial evidence review, not verification of every advancement route for this specialty. Source retrieval dates do not replace policy effective dates.
Career-field mappings, not automatic qualifications. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024 national medians). O*NET links explain each occupation; military experience does not guarantee a job or salary.
Maintain ship's hull, fittings, and piping systems. Perform welding, plumbing, and sheet metal work to keep ships operationally ready.
Hull Maintenance Technicians are the ship's welders, pipefitters, and metalworkers. Work covers welding and brazing, pipe repair, sheet metal fabrication, and structural repair. You also maintain plumbing and sanitation systems, which is less glamorous but constant. Damage control is central to the rating, including firefighting, flooding response, and emergency repair. Shipboard fabrication often means making a part that cannot be ordered at sea.
You learn welding across multiple processes and positions, plus brazing and cutting. Pipefitting, sheet metal layout, and structural repair are core competencies. The rating teaches blueprint reading and fabrication from drawings. You gain damage control skills including shoring, patching, and dewatering. Many Hull Maintenance Technicians pursue civilian welding certifications.
Welding is a licensed, certifiable trade with strong pay and demand across construction, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and pipelines. Certified welders in specialized processes and positions earn well above average, and certification is achievable quickly. Shipyards and marine repair facilities recruit Navy hull technicians specifically. Pipefitting and boilermaker apprenticeships often credit military experience. Many veterans move into welding inspection or non-destructive testing, which pays well and is less physically demanding over time.
ASVAB VE+AR+MK: 150. This is the catalog's listed requirement, not an individual eligibility decision. Confirm the current standard and any exceptions with the service.
This specialty can be pursued through an initial enlistment, subject to eligibility and available contracts. Confirm the current status of this specific classification with an official recruiter.
Catalog sources consulted: 2026-09-26. This is not an entry-by-entry verification date. No record-specific verification date is recorded. Occupation audit evidence reviewed: 2026-09-26; this does not re-verify every requirement.
Official branch occupation evidence
Occupation identified. This occupation was identified in the cited source. This does not verify requirements, benefits, or a current opening.
Navy enlisted occupational standards, NAVPERS 18068F, July 2026, Appendix B (rating enumeration) · reviewed 2026-09-26
Confirmed. Catalog evidence is not an inventory of open contracts.
No dated public inventory confirmed a currently open recruiting contract for this role. This does not mean there are no openings. Confirm current eligibility and offers with an official recruiter.
Advertised — Navy, as of 2026-09-28Deployment likelihood: Moderate*
* Estimated. Rank progression and specialty-pay eligibility are illustrative assumptions. Deployment likelihood, when shown, is inferred from similar specialties in the branch and career field, not a published specialty deployment rate.
Descriptions may change. No military role is free from risk of injury or death, including non-combat work. Catalog review dates do not establish current openings or re-verification of every requirement.
Recruiting signals reflect what each branch published on the dates shown. They are not offers, and they do not mean a contract is open for you. Eligibility depends on your ASVAB scores, medical qualification, security clearance eligibility, and ship date. Confirm everything with an official recruiter. See our Disclaimer and Terms.