Marine vs. Ocean Engineering (and Naval Architecture)

Marine engineering, ocean engineering and naval architecture all involve engineering for the sea, and the same departments often teach more than one of them. They are still different specialties, and none of them is the same as ocean science or marine biology. This guide uses ABET's accreditation criteria to separate the three engineering titles, explains how they differ from the ocean sciences, and shows what is actually available online.

One set of ABET criteria, three titles

ABET publishes a single set of program criteria for "Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering, Ocean Engineering, and Similarly Named Engineering Programs." The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers is the lead society, with the American Society of Civil Engineers and IEEE cooperating for ocean engineering. Every program under these criteria must include probability and statistics, fluid mechanics, dynamics, and engineering design at the system level. The title then adds specific topics:

Read across the table and the emphasis becomes clear. Naval architecture and marine engineering both center on vessels and their systems, with naval architecture adding hydrostatics and structural mechanics. Ocean engineering adds the ocean environment itself: waves, oceanography and underwater acoustics.

Naval architecture and marine engineering

These two are usually taught together. Webb Institute describes its education as centered on naval architecture and marine engineering, which it calls multi-disciplinary fields that span ship design and systems engineering as well as marine, electrical and civil engineering. The University of Michigan runs a combined Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and announced a dual master's degree in that field and sustainable systems beginning in Fall 2026, aimed at issues such as new global emissions regulations and offshore renewable energy.

If your interest is designing ships, offshore vessels or their propulsion and power systems, this is the pairing to look at, whether the degree title says naval architecture, marine engineering or both.

Ocean engineering

Ocean engineering covers structures and systems that work in and around the ocean rather than vessels alone. Texas A&M's Department of Ocean Engineering, formed in 2015 by combining its ocean engineering program in College Station with its offshore and coastal systems engineering program in Galveston, lists areas such as deepwater offshore technology, renewable energy, air-sea interaction engineering, and coastal and ocean environmental protection.

The boundary with naval architecture is not rigid. Virginia Tech's online master's is titled "Ocean Engineering (Naval Engineering)" and concentrates on naval ship design, and Texas A&M says its online MS prepares graduates for careers ranging from research and development to naval architecture. The degree title tells you which ABET topics apply at the bachelor's level, but at the graduate level you need to read the course list.

Not the same as ocean science or marine biology

Oceanography and marine biology are sciences, not engineering. Texas A&M's Department of Oceanography sits in its College of Arts and Sciences and teaches biological, chemical, geological and physical oceanography, and it collaborates with separate marine biology and marine and coastal environmental sciences departments at Texas A&M Galveston. Those programs study the ocean; ocean engineering programs design things that operate in it. ABET's ocean engineering criteria include oceanography as one required topic, but an oceanography or marine biology degree is not an engineering degree, and our directory does not list them.

What you can study online

The online options are limited. In our directory (October 2026), three programs list ocean engineering as a major, all of them master's degrees, and none currently lists marine engineering (how we count). You can follow both majors at ocean engineering and marine engineering.

• Texas A&M, [MS in Ocean Engineering](/programs/texas-a-and-m-university/ms-ocean-engineering-online/). Offered in a 100% online format since Fall 2025, with or without a thesis; classes can be watched live or from recordings. The 30-credit non-thesis option is open to graduates of any engineering field, while the thesis option requires an engineering bachelor's. The department may add prerequisites for students with a weaker background in dynamics, fluid mechanics and mechanics of materials.
• Texas A&M, MEng in Ocean Engineering. A 100% online, non-thesis degree; the catalog requires a minimum of 30 semester credit hours of approved coursework and states the program does not offer a thesis option.
• Virginia Tech, [MS in Ocean Engineering](/programs/virginia-tech/ms-ocean-engineering-online/). Thirty credits including four core courses, with prerecorded lectures plus a one-hour live online class meeting each week. Students choose a thesis, a project and report, or a two-course naval ship design capstone, and all students take a final comprehensive oral exam. The page does not say where that exam takes place, so ask.

There are no online bachelor's programs in these majors in our directory. If you want an ABET-accredited bachelor's in naval architecture, marine or ocean engineering, look up the specific program in ABET's database and check how it is delivered; our ABET guide explains what to look for.

Licensure considerations

NCEES offers a PE exam in Naval Architecture and Marine, and it reports naval architecture and marine graduates among the examinees who take the FE Other Disciplines exam. Its PE list does not include an exam titled ocean engineering, so if licensure matters to you, review exam specifications and ask your state board which exam fits your background.

NCEES describes the most common path as an EAC/ABET-accredited bachelor's, the FE and PE exams, and typically four years of experience, while noting that many states offer additional paths. Each state board sets its own rules, and the state where you plan to practice decides. A master's degree does not automatically make up for a bachelor's the board does not accept.

How to choose

• Naval architecture / marine engineering if you want to design ships and marine power and propulsion systems.
• Ocean engineering if you are drawn to offshore structures, coastal engineering, waves and ocean energy.
• Oceanography or marine biology if your interest is the science of the ocean rather than engineering design.
• For an online master's, compare course lists, thesis options and any exam or attendance requirements, and confirm that your bachelor's major meets the program's prerequisites.