Torpedoman's Mate
The civilian and federal jobs that hire Navy Torpedoman's Mates — with real salaries and the resume that gets callbacks.
Every TM has more options than a Google search will tell you. Below: career paths, BLS salary data, federal GS series, certifications by target career, and how to translate your experience without losing what made you valuable to the Navy in the first place.
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After the Navy I got hired into 6 federal career fields and tech sales, and sat on federal hiring panels along the way. I spent the last 2 years rebuilding everything I learned into BMR, tuned for how AI actually screens resumes today. This is the system I wish I'd had on day one.
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Military Role Overview
As a Torpedoman's Mate (TM), you ran the underwater weapons program on submarines. The Navy re-established the TM rating on 30 September 2019 under NAVADMIN 225/19, pulling torpedo and missile work back out of the Machinist's Mate (Weapons) and Missile Technician communities so the people who load, store, and service the boat's ordnance had their own rate again. If you wore TM crow, you handled every phase of weapons loading, unloading, and stowage on every class of submarine: Mk 48 ADCAP torpedoes, Tomahawk land-attack missiles, and countermeasure devices.
The job was never just "move the weapon." You performed organizational and intermediate maintenance on the launching and firing systems behind it: the hydraulic systems, high-pressure air systems, and seawater systems that drive a torpedo tube. You ran pre-fire and post-fire routines, maintained the ejection pump and impulse systems, kept the weapons stowage racks and handling gear in spec, and maintained submarine anchoring systems on top of it. That is electro-mechanical work under tight tolerance, with explosive ordnance in the loop and zero room to improvise. Training ran through the Torpedoman's Mate "A" School at Naval Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut, with follow-on systems and weapons-handling pipelines tied to your boat's hull class.
Civilian employers value this background because it is rare and it is verified. You troubleshot hydraulic and pneumatic actuation, you read mechanical and electrical schematics, you followed lockout-tagout and explosive-safety procedures that a manufacturing plant would kill to have baked into a new hire, and you did it inside a submarine where a mistake is not a do-over. Industrial and defense employers pay for exactly that combination of electro-mechanical troubleshooting and disciplined safety. To see how your rate stacks against other Navy weapons and ordnance jobs, the Gunner's Mate (GM) career page and the Mineman (MN) career page cover adjacent paths, and you can browse every rating through the military-to-civilian career hub.
I never serviced a torpedo tube, but I sold the kind of industrial electro-mechanical systems a TM maintains in their sleep. After the Navy I pivoted into tech sales, and the technicians who closed the most deals were the ones who had actually turned the wrench on hydraulics, high-pressure air, and fire-control gear. A TM walks into a defense or industrial sales-engineering room with credibility you cannot fake. The trick is writing the resume so a civilian hiring manager sees the systems expert, not just "submarine torpedo guy." — Brad Tachi, Navy Diver veteran & BMR founder
Pay Reality Check
The number that matters when you're deciding what's next: how does civilian pay compare to what you make now?
Military comp is approximate (varies by location/dependents). Civilian is BLS median. Federal includes locality pay. Your real number depends on duty station, family status, GS step, and overtime.
Private Sector Career Paths
The most direct civilian translation of TM work is industrial and electro-mechanical maintenance. These roles use the exact troubleshooting, schematic-reading, and hydraulic/pneumatic skills you built on launching and firing systems. Per the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS, May 2024), industrial machinery mechanics (O*NET 49-9041.00) earned a median of $63,510, and electro-mechanical and mechatronics technicians (17-3024.00) earned $70,760. Both fields are growing faster than average as plants automate, which means the people who can fix a jammed actuator at 2 a.m. stay in demand.
Defense contractors are the cleanest fit. Companies that build submarines, torpedoes, and weapons-handling systems hire former TMs as field service technicians and weapons-systems technicians because you already know the hardware and the safety regime. Field service technician roles fall under commercial and industrial equipment mechanics, and many sit at or above the maintenance-and-repair median. Be honest about geography: defense field-service work clusters around shipyards and naval bases (Groton, Norfolk, Kings Bay, Pearl Harbor, Bremerton, San Diego), and traveling field roles can mean weeks away from home. Industrial maintenance, by contrast, exists in every state because every factory needs it.
If you want to stay close to ordnance and weapons systems, the cross-branch paths overlap heavily. Army ammunition and ordnance specialists, Marine aviation ordnance technicians, and EOD ratings compete for many of the same defense-contractor openings. See the Army 89B Ammunition Specialist page and the Marine 6531 Aircraft Ordnance Systems Technician page for how those backgrounds map. For a broader look at which roles pay the most after service, the highest-paying military-to-civilian jobs guide is worth a read, and when you are ready to translate your record, the military resume builder handles the formatting.
Civilian Job Title Translations
| Civilian Job Title | Industry | BLS Median Salary | Outlook | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Industrial Machinery Mechanic O*NET: 49-9041.00 | Industrial Maintenance | $63,510 | 13% (Much faster than average) | strong |
Electro-Mechanical / Mechatronics Technician O*NET: 17-3024.00 | Manufacturing | $70,760 | 2% (Slower than average) | strong |
Maintenance Technician O*NET: 49-9071.00 | Facilities & Manufacturing | $48,620 | 4% (As fast as average) | strong |
Field Service Technician (Industrial/Defense) O*NET: 49-9041.00 | Industrial Equipment | $63,510 | 13% (Much faster than average) | strong |
Hydraulics / Pneumatics Technician O*NET: 49-9044.00 | Industrial Maintenance | $60,740 | 0% (Little or no change) | moderate |
Weapons-Systems Field Technician O*NET: 17-3024.00 | Defense Contracting | $70,760 | 2% (Slower than average) | strong |
Quality Control Inspector O*NET: 51-9061.00 | Manufacturing | $47,460 | -4% (Decline) | moderate |
First-Line Supervisor of Mechanics & Technicians O*NET: 49-1011.00 | Industrial Maintenance | $76,180 | 4% (As fast as average) | moderate |
Companies That Hire This Background
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“I am wrapping up a 21 year Naval career, all of which was working on fighters. I had picked up a job as a contractor for a company on the same base I’ve been at for the last ten years. I submitted that resume while on deployment and it worked great. Thanks again Brad. Dave ”
Federal Career Paths
Federal technical and equipment series line up well with a TM record, and Veterans' Preference plus a likely active security clearance make you competitive on USAJobs. The Wage Grade (WG) trades hire on demonstrated hands-on skill, which is where weapons-handling and systems-maintenance experience shines without needing a degree.
The strongest direct matches are the trades series. WG-6605 (Artillery Repairing) and WG-2604 (Electronics Mechanic) cover the launching, firing, and electronic-control work you did on the boat. GS-1670 (Equipment Services / Equipment Specialist) is the classic landing spot for someone who can speak to the full lifecycle of a weapons or handling system, common at NAVSEA, NUWC Newport and Keyport, and the naval shipyards. GS-0802 (Engineering Technician) fits if you supported test, integration, or systems-engineering work. Adjacent series worth targeting include GS-1910 (Quality Assurance) for inspection-heavy backgrounds, GS-0018 (Safety and Occupational Health Management) given your explosive-safety and lockout-tagout discipline, and GS-1601 (General Facilities and Equipment) for broad equipment-program roles.
Aim for GS-7 through GS-11 (or WG-8 through WG-11) depending on how your enlisted time-in-grade translates. Your clearance is a real asset: many of these billets sit inside cleared facilities, and a current clearance shortens the hiring timeline. Other Navy weapons-and-systems ratings target the same series, so the Fire Controlman (FC) page and the Gunner's Mate (GM) page are useful side-by-side reads. For the federal-specific writing rules, the federal resume guides walk through the format, and the federal resume builder structures it to the standard USAJobs expects.
GS Series & Position Matches
| GS Series | Federal Job Title | Typical Grades | Match | Explore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GS-1670 | Equipment Services | GS-7, GS-9, GS-11 | View Details → | |
| GS-2604 | Electronics Mechanic | WG-8, WG-10, WG-11 | View Details → | |
| GS-6605 | Artillery Repairing | WG-8, WG-10, WG-11 | View Details → | |
| GS-0017 | Explosives Safety | GS-7, GS-9, GS-11 | View Details → | |
| GS-0802 | Engineering Technician | GS-7, GS-9, GS-11 | View Details → | |
| GS-1910 | Quality Assurance | GS-7, GS-9, GS-11 | View Details → | |
| GS-0018 | Safety and Occupational Health Management | GS-7, GS-9, GS-11 | View Details → |
Federal resumes follow different rules. We know them.
Federal hiring uses keyword-matching and structured experience. BMR builds federal-format resumes (USAJobs-ready) with the right keywords, hours/week, and supervisor info — for any GS series above.
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Want to Change Careers Entirely?
Not everyone wants to stay in a related field. These career paths leverage your transferable skills — leadership, risk management, logistics, project planning — in completely different industries.
Technical Sales Engineer
TMs who have actually maintained electro-mechanical and fluid-power systems can sell them with credibility a pure salesperson cannot match, which is exactly why this is a strong pivot.
Industrial Production Manager
Running weapons-handling evolutions on a deadline with zero error tolerance is the same discipline a production floor needs to hit throughput and quality targets.
Cost Estimator
Estimating the labor, parts, and time to build or repair a system relies on the technical reading and detail discipline a TM uses every maintenance cycle.
Purchasing Agent / Buyer
Sourcing the right hydraulic seal or electronic component for a system requires the parts fluency and accountability a TM built tracking weapons and spares.
Logistician
Managing the lifecycle, stowage, and accountability of submarine ordnance is a logistics problem, and that experience transfers into civilian supply-chain coordination.
Manufacturing Quality Auditor
Auditing a production line against documented standards mirrors the procedural verification a TM ran on every weapons routine, just in a different industry.
Pivoting industries? You don't need to start from scratch.
The skills that made you a good Marine, Sailor, Airman, or Soldier transfer further than you think. BMR rewrites your bullets for any of the pivot careers above — without making you sound like you've never done the work.
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Skills Translation Guide
If you are applying to a defense contractor, a shipyard, or an industrial-maintenance shop, your terminology already lands. Those employers know what a torpedo tube and a hydraulic accumulator are. This section is for the careers OUTSIDE underwater weapons, where a civilian hiring manager has never heard "ADCAP" or "impulse tank" and needs your experience in business language.
The pattern that wins is translating the system, the scale, and the standard. "Maintained the launching system" becomes "maintained high-pressure hydraulic and pneumatic actuation systems to manufacturer tolerance." "Loaded torpedoes" becomes "executed controlled handling of high-value, hazardous assets under strict safety procedure." Lead with the transferable competency, then quantify it.
| Military term | Civilian translation |
|---|---|
| Launching/firing system maintenance | Hydraulic and pneumatic systems maintenance and repair |
| Weapons loading and stowage | Hazardous-materials handling and inventory control |
| Pre-fire / post-fire routines | Preventive maintenance and operational testing procedures |
| Explosive-safety compliance | Regulatory safety compliance and lockout-tagout |
Before: "Performed organizational maintenance on submarine torpedo launching systems and conducted weapons handling evolutions."
After: "Maintained and troubleshot high-pressure hydraulic, pneumatic, and seawater actuation systems to OEM tolerance, and led controlled handling of high-value hazardous assets with a zero-incident safety record."
For more conversions like these, the 50 military terms translated to civilian language glossary and the hidden military skills article are good companions. To apply the translation to your own bullets, start in the military resume builder.
Resume Bullet Examples
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Certifications by Career Path
Which certifications you need depends on where you're headed. Find your target career path below.
Defense Contracting
Federal Employment
General Career Transition
Industrial Maintenance
Manufacturing
Project Management
Quality Assurance
Safety & EHS
Got a cert? Don't bury it. List it the right way.
The wrong placement can sink an otherwise strong application. BMR knows where each cert ranks, what to call it, and how to frame it for ATS keyword matching and hiring manager attention.
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Transition Resources
Here is where to point your effort, split by whether you want to stay in the systems-and-ordnance world or move into something new.
Staying in systems, maintenance, and defense
- DoD SkillBridge: pursue an internship with a defense contractor or industrial-maintenance employer in your last months of service. The SkillBridge guide explains eligibility and timing.
- Industry credentials: pursue an FMM (Federation for Maintenance Mechanics) or NIMS industrial-maintenance certification to put a recognized stamp on what you already do.
- Related Navy ordnance and systems ratings: see also the Mineman (MN) and Aviation Ordnanceman (AO) career pages.
Careers outside underwater weapons
- Veteran mentorship: American Corporate Partners (ACP) pairs you with a corporate mentor for free, which is especially useful if you are aiming at a field you have no civilian contacts in.
- Clearance leverage: if you hold an active clearance, it is one of your most valuable assets on the civilian market. The highest-paying transitions guide shows where it pays off.
- TAP and transition help: the SFL-TAP resource hub covers the formal transition timeline.
Build the resume
Whatever direction you pick, the record has to read in civilian terms. Explore options through the career crosswalk, use the military resume builder or federal resume builder for the right format, and when you are ready, build your resume now.
Your 30 / 60 / 90-Day Transition Plan
Most people do this backwards. They wait until terminal leave to start, then panic. Here's the sequence that works. Already out? Same plan, start at day one today.
Set the foundation
- Pull your DD-214 (request from Milconnect if separated)
- List your top 3 civilian roles AND top 3 GS series
- Build your tailored TM resume — BMR does it free
- Write 1 strong LinkedIn headline (not "veteran seeking opportunities")
- Pull together your evals/performance reports for accomplishments
Apply with intent
- Apply to 5–10 jobs/week — quality over quantity
- Tailor every resume to the job description (BMR auto-tailors)
- Connect with 5 people/week on LinkedIn (not a spray)
- Set up a USAJobs profile and a saved-search alert for your GS series
- Practice translating your military bullets out loud — explain to a civilian friend
Close the offer
- Track every application — date, status, contact, notes
- Follow up 7–10 days after each application
- Prep for behavioral interviews using the STAR method
- Negotiate salary — don't take the first offer (BLS median is your floor)
- Stay applying even after one offer — leverage = options
Print this. Tape it to your monitor. Veterans who treat the job search like a 90-day op get hired faster than the ones who treat it like an emergency.
Frequently Asked Questions
What civilian jobs hire former Navy Torpedoman's Mates (TM)?
Do I need a degree to get an industrial maintenance or field service job?
What does a defense-contractor field service technician pay, and what is the catch?
Which federal GS and WG series fit a TM?
How much is my security clearance worth on the civilian market?
What if I want to leave weapons and maintenance entirely?
How does Veterans' Preference help me on federal applications?
Can I use the GI Bill for industrial or mechatronics certifications?
Where are the jobs geographically?
How do I translate 'torpedoman' on a resume so a civilian recruiter gets it?
Translate your TM Torpedoman's Mate experience into a resume that gets callbacks
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