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After graduation the dangers of Sea Year didn't go away. In fact they become worse for some. Most graduates went right back to work aboard merchant ships as Third Mates or Third Assistant Engineers. However, a significant number chose duty in the Navy instead, serving aboard surface ships, submarines and in aviation. Among the forty-five graduates from Kings Point who died during WWII, over one half of them (28) were killed in direct enemy action. Eleven others died supporting military operations.

Combat or military related operations weren't the only cause of death though. The supply lines were maintained at all costs and the enemy never took a holiday. Ships departed port in every weather and navigated perilously close to each other in tightly packed convoys or fleet formations day and night. Collisions, heavy weather, shipboard accidents, catastrophic ammunition explosions, aircraft crashes,, misadventures ashore and the emotional wear and tear of combat took their toll. The names of the above men are inscribed on the Kings Point War Memorial no matter what the cause of death was. They were all serving their country honorably after surviving the challenges of their Sea Year.