(MILLINGTON, Tenn.) – Navy Midshipman Patrick Hennessey from St. Paul, Minnesota, participated in the 2018 winter Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) ship selection draft as a future member of the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) community.
More than 40 midshipmen from NROTC units around the country chose to serve as surface warfare officers. Each selecting midshipmen are ranked according to their grade point average, aptitude scores and physical fitness.“NROTC provided me the opportunity to lead my peers in both large and small group settings,” said Hennessey.
According to their rankings, each midshipman provided a preference of ship or homeport to the junior officer detailer at the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tennessee. If these preferences were available, they were assigned as requested.
“I am looking forward to leading and influencing the sailors in my division when I get to the ship,” said Hennessey.
Hennessey, a 2014 Cretin-Durham Hall High School graduate, has selected to serve aboard USS Somerset. Hennessey is majoring in mechanical engineering while attending Iowa State University. Upon graduation, Hennessey will receive a commission as a Navy Ensign and report aboard Somerset as a surface warfare officer.
Commissioned in 2014, Somerset is home ported at Naval Base San Diego. Somerset is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. The ships are generally designed to transport troops into a war zone by sea, primarily using landing craft, although invariably they also have the capability to transport helicopters.
“I hope to show up at my ship ready and to learn and lead by example in everything I do,” said Hennessey.
The midshipmen’s ship selection is not only a major personal milestone but also an important day for the ships in the fleet. Not only do the midshipmen choose where they are going to start their Navy career, but the ship they choose will also gain a motivated, eager, young officer to help lead and improve an already great team, according to Navy officials.
"NROTC units across the country instill essential warfighting fundamentals, professional core competencies, and ethics required in a Navy or Marine Corps officer," said Rear Adm. Mike Bernacchi, Commander, Naval Service Training Command, which includes the NROTC Program. "I am enormously proud of our graduating midshipman for completing this demanding program, and look forward to them joining the fleet."
“Ship selection means a lot to me because it allowed me to control where I start my career based on my performance during my time at NROTC,” said Hennessey.