The Quartermaster "A" School at Great Lakes, Illinois, is designed to provide Sailors with the basic technical knowledge and skills required to accomplish and perform quartermaster (QM) duties to include quartermaster of the watch aboard ships underway, in port and at anchor. The QM "A" School includes both classroom and practical lab instruction, covering terrestrial navigation, celestial navigation, the Voyage Management System (VMS), and Rules of the Nautical Road.
The QM "A" School curriculum has been modernized through the Ready Relevant Learning (RRL) initiative to improve individual Sailor performance and enhance fleet readiness by leveraging training technology that ranges from simple visual demonstration tools to more complex, immersive simulators and virtual trainers.
RRL delivers the right training at the right time in a Sailor’s career, in the right way, so that Sailors are ready to operate their equipment and fulfill their rating requirements, transforming them into highly skilled, operational and combat-ready warfighters.