The pause of the US Merchant Marine Academy’s at-sea training programme has become the second full-on stand-down in a decade, the head of the university’s alumni group said.

James Tobin, the chief executive and president of the US Merchant Marine Academy Alumni Association and Foundation, said the safety processes put in place following rape allegations made by an unnamed cadet last autumn are a “non-starter” and that students at the university have not yet returned to sea.