How To Become A Relief Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a relief captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a relief captain. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.71 an hour? That's $55,554 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreRelief CaptainUS Average

Salary

4.3

Avg. Salary $55,554

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.5

Growth Rate 1%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.08%

Asian 3.12%

Black or African American 6.71%

Hispanic or Latino 8.76%

Unknown 4.70%

White 75.64%

Gender

female 3.77%

male 96.23%

Age - 40.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40.5

Stress Level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.6

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a relief captain

Explore relief captain education requirements

Most common relief captain degrees

Bachelor's

50.7 %

High School Diploma

26.1 %

Associate

8.7 %

Start to develop specific relief captain skills

Skills	Percentages
Vessel Maintenance	59.84%
Coast Guard	24.75%
Routine Maintenance	6.78%
USCG	5.04%
Safety Procedures	3.60%

Complete relevant relief captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New relief captains learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a relief captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real relief captain resumes.

Research relief captain duties and responsibilities

Lead a platoon that earn numerous awards for jamming opposition force artillery nets and conducting counterattacks on opposition electronic warfare platoons.
Overhaul major systems and prepare for USCG hull inspections
Inspect vessel and develop work list for multiple shipyard periods.
Supervise various water sports activities for customers vacationing at a large scale Caribbean resort.

Prepare your relief captain resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your relief captain resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a relief captain resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Relief Captain Resume templates

Build a professional Relief Captain resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Relief Captain resume.

Apply for relief captain jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a relief captain job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams