Excuse me if I missed a previous post asking this question. I looked through and searched the forums to no avail. I know that you gotta have your sea time and basic and advanced fire fighting to test. Let’s say I test without having the rest of the required endorsements…radar, brm, etc and pass the exam. How long do I have to get the rest of the endorsements? I know it takes a good bit of time and money for the rest of the classes so it will take me awhile to get them. Can I just turn it in and it will be good until I get the rest of the endorsements? Thanks in advance.
First, you are mixing STCW and national. They are separate and you can get the national endorsement of Third Mate without getting the STCW endorsement Officer in Charge of a Navigational Watch (OICNW).
For the national endorsement of 3rd Mate, you need First Aid & CPR and Basic and Advanced Firefighting to be approved to test. You do not need Radar Observer, but without it you are going to be essentially unemployable as a 3rd Mate because you will not be authorized to serve on a vessel with radar. You would need to re-apply (new form and fees) and add Radar Observer at a later time.
For the STCW, you can add that later but still need to meet all of the requirements, and may need to either re-take or take a refresher or revalidation courses for First Aid & CPR and Basic and Advanced Firefighting if it’s been more than 5 years since you last took them. You will also find employment as a 3rd Mate difficult if you don’t have STCW as well.
Thanks for the info! Makes me feel better knowing I will have time to take the rest of the classes after testing!