Do you get to pick that you want to be on a sub, carrier, cruiser, etc.? Or is that dependent upon what kind of what kind of job you are placed into? And I assume that some naval positions are shore-based, so you might spend some part of your time not even being on a ship?
Obviously I’ve never been in service.
It’s called billeting. You generally get sent to where your job skills and rank are needed. Some assignments require special training, such as those on submarine duty. The Navy tries to balance ship and shore duty. They also have other duty types such as overseas shore duty, special detail duty or as I found out, neutral duty. After boot camp and A school, I spent 2 years at a Naval air station 100 miles from my home town. I was then transferred to a submarine tender in San Diego that rarely went to see. This was called neutral duty. In my 4 years in the Navy, I spent a total of 20 days at sea and went to Matzatlan and Acapulco. My brother was assigned to a ship right out of boot camp and spent the rest of his 4 years at sea. When the ship wasn’t at sea, it was in the Phillipines. The Phillipines are considered one of the worst duty stations for a sailor.
You make your request and they look for the furthest thing from it.
ETA: Sorry that was a little glib, but that was the official joke when I was in.
Depends if you are Officer or Enlisted
Officers are recruited to do a specific job. And that job will determine what your career path is. By and large, surface warfare officers go to surface jobs, aviators fly, submariners go to to subs. There isn’t much mixing and matching.
Staff core, docs, lawyers, supply etc. are generally ashore.
We haven’t had a base in the Philippines in almost 30 years. Was a great place to be. Been out a while hunh??
I enlisted in 1980, in the nuclear power program, and chose the Electronics Technician field because it had the most amount of time in school before assignment to a seagoing billet (nominally two years, although a clerical error led to a three-month delay in my orders to Nuclear Power training in Orlando). Because I wanted to serve in Hawaii, and eventually bring my girlfriend over to live with me, I volunteered to serve aboard submarines, as that was the type of assignment most likely to get me stationed on Oahu.
So we have a data point for the notion that some types of shipboard billets can be volunteered for, with a decent chance of success.
Saw a video from the USNA where those about to graduate got to choose their chip by taking a card off a wall. The class was assembled and called in order to do so. But then, they were about to be Ensigns and graduate.
ETA. It’s called “Ship Selection Night.”
Former submarine officer here…
I requested being assigned to nuclear submarines in my last year of college (in NROTC). It was very competitive. I had a series of interviews (technical and personal) in Washington, D.C. The final interview was with a 4-star admiral.
Upon completing my training, I was able to fill out a “dream sheet” in which I listed my preference for type of submarine and home port. I also had to indicate which of the two was more important to me. I ended up getting the exact class of submarine I wanted (which was most important to me), but got my last choice in home ports.
I’m probably the only sailor in history who asked to be stationed in Norfolk, Virginia (the largest Navy base in the world) and didn’t get it. :dubious:
As for shore/sea rotation, after your initial training, officers generally serve three years at sea, followed by two years assigned to a shore job (like teaching at a school or working for a shore-based command such as a submarine squadron), then back to sea in a higher position.
I’m curious: Why is/was that?
Former enlisted here. (83-89)
I signed up as a Data Systems Technician, shortened to “DS” for conversational purposes. (This is called your “rating”, further defined by a number code called an “NEC”. The other services call it your MOS.) After I got out, this rating was merged into a couple others (like Electronics Technician, or “ET”).
I went to Boot camp, then Basic Electronics School in San Diego, and “A” school in Vallejo, California. I did not get to select any other base or duty for this period, because I had to go where the schools were.
Once I passed “A” school (and if I flunked those schools, I would have been shipped out to the fleet as a non-designated Seaman), I picked my next school (my class picked in order of grade point average: highest grade point average got first pick of the available schools, etc), which ended up being located on NAS Key West.
Once again, in grade point average order, the graduating class picked from the available ships/duty stations. I got a carrier based out of San Diego.
From this point forward, an enlisted’s rotation is determined by their NEC, their pay grade (rank), and what billets happen to be open for those. In my case (a third, then second class petty officer), I had to do 6 years at sea, 2 years ashore (I expected the shore duty was going to be as an instructor at one of the “A” or “C” schools).
There is a person called a “detailer” whose sole job it is, to try and match up people due to rotate with available billets for that NEC & pay grade. So I would have to get in touch with the detailer, and he or she would inform me of my choices. I would get to pick from those. There is probably a whole unwritten code in how to get on the good side of your detailer, but I got out of the Navy before I was due to rotate off my first sea command. 
It’s often just a crap shoot unless you happen to be in a critical rating, and even then, it’s a maybe. As someone mentioned, your ‘dream sheet’ is just that. A detailer may try to get you somewhere in the ballpark of where you want to go, but it just may be east or west coast. A detailer once told me that just because there is a blank on the dream sheet, to never put down someplace you didn’t want to go as a throwaway assignment choice. If your sixth choice was Diego Garcia, there was a good possibility that you’d end up there.
As a low-rated enlisted man, you’re usually just grist for the mill, despite your rating. If you were unable to get a school for a specialty of some sort, you’re considered a “striker” and may be sent anywhere for OJT. In that case, upon arrival at your first duty station you may be asked what rating you want to ‘strike’ (be trained) for, and may be assigned based on that choice. Or not.
As related elsewhere here, my experience was 23 years as a Seabee (Naval Construction Force), so was never on a ship. Sea duty mainly consisted of being assigned to a Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) either out of California or Gulfport, MS (and up until 1974 from Davisville, RI), although there were also overseas billets. Battalions deployed during my time to Vietnam, Okinawa, Diego Garcia, Guam, and Spain. Locations have changed, of course, as Seabees go where the action is, just like the Marines. The rotation for E-1 to E-5 was four years sea and two years shore. E-6 and up was three and three.
There are special duty stations for Seabees, also. My last four years were spent on special duty with the State Department. There was also a one year school in controls for the nuclear program, and the Antarctic Support Group, among others.
I was in the Coast Guard, back in the days when the ships were made out of wood and the men were made out of steel (1980s). Each rating would (job title such as cook, boatswain’s mate, etc) would have a ’ detailer, usually a warrant officer, who would assign people to every command for each billet. Each billet had a rate and rating (experience, E2 to E9).
Some rates have lots of sea time, others not so much. You would fill out what was known as a “dream sheet” listing where you would like to be stationed. My experience was detailers were reasonable about trying to assign you to where you wanted but in the military the operating motto is “Needs of the Service”. If you are an SK3 who wants to go to Key West, FL and all that is available there is a BMCS billet, you ain’t getting it. People usually get transferred every 4 years, although there are exceptions (1 year for isolated duty). Detailers would try to make sure you didn’t excessive sea time unless you volunteered for it. Rated proficiency in equipment matters. I was an Electronics Tech who went LORAN track in school were they would train you on one of four transmitters based on the station you picked/assigned. The first LORAN stationed I had was U S base and the general policy was two LORAN stations the first enlistment. The detailer told me on the phone not to ask for a station with a different transmitter since school space was at a premium.
I’m not sure how much “reward your buddies” happens with detailers. One thing they do, or did 30 years ago, was give people coming off isolated duty where they wanted, or pretty close. I think
they kept two married USCG members at stations reasonably close. At least that’s what I got the impression from the one couple who had the warmth and charm of Frank Burns and Hot Lips.
When men were men, and so were the women? 
It only worked once for me, on my final assignment, as it happened. My detailer was a guy I had worked with years before, and so was the Senior Chief at the command I wanted to go to. I called both of them, swapped some lies, and got the detailer friend to short tour my shore duty and transfer me to State Department duty. Best assignment ever.
As for your second sentence, when I was getting ready to leave Vietnam, I asked for anywhere in CA, as that’s where my girlfriend lived. I got orders to Adak, AK. The reason? “Alaska is your home of record, so we’re doing you a favor.” No, dipshit, Adak is a thousand miles from Anchorage, and the Aleutian Islands have some of the worst flying weather on the planet.
Thanks, everyone.
Ye Olde Man was in the Coast Guard, then got shifted over when WWII broke out. He said he ended up doing “Banana Boat Runs” between Port of Chicago and Pearl. On April Fools day, 1945, he got to be at Okinawa. I’m under the impression he didn’t get much say.
This person has not a friggin’ clue about duty stations…A man would shoot his own mother in the leg to be stationed in Philippines. LBFM.
PBR.
I based my response on what I was told in the Navy. Subic Bay wasn’t called Pubic Bay for no reason.
When men were men, and sheep were nervous?
Do assignments take into account the skills that you come into the service with or that you pick up on your own, or is it solely based on what official training activities you have attended? E.g. if an SP picks up a copy of “Teach Yourself Naval Radar Electronics Maintenance” and studies it well, can they take an exam to get a new job title or at least get placed directly into advanced training or would they still have to go to basic electronics training like everyone else?
Pabst Blue Ribbon?