normal everyday sailors do not swim semiannually unless they want to, and those ones do it in lieu of running. I am active-duty Navy. I haven't done a swim test since 2003, and that only because my XO got a hair up his butt and wanted everyone qualified class 2 swimmer (the minimum is class 3). I swim like a brick. I have actually sunk while doing a dead-man's float. I am in the Navy because the only way I will ever have to swim for my life is if the boat goes down, and since I am a powerplant Nuke on a carrier, I am pretty sure by the time my ship sinks, I won't care...
