There will be alot of cleaning and painting involved as a seaman specialist, how do you think the ship stays clean and maintained? But there is also alot of other stuff, seamanship, firefighting, damage control, boat cox’n, weapons, etc etc. Basic training is full of BS to get you knocked into shape and conditioned to life onboard, however nothing can prepare you for your first draft. And expect to get the mickey taken out of you when you join your first ship, I dont think you can really know what to expect life is like onboard until you get your first draft, it’ll be hard the first few months until you settle in.
I was on big ships (Invincible) and small ships (Patrol Boat) and there is a vast difference between the culture onboard each. However, I managed to get out of the seaman branch, so I had some more interesting experiences than most.
I had some epic times and went to some epic places, (been to both artic circle and Antartica, not many people can say that), crossed the equater, chased drug and gun runners (even caught a couple) and drunk far, far more than I ever should have.
You’ll have some great times and mates.
Most important thing though, a sense of humour, because beleive me, your going to need it.
And learn to play uckers!