Objective To investigate the status quo of first aid knowledge of students from non-medical naval academies, so as to provide references for designing first aid training program for them. Methods Using convenience sampling, we investigated 342 students from 4 non-medical naval universities using anonymous questionnaire from Sep. 2017 to Dec. 2017. Results A total of 342 questionnaires were returned, with a recovery rate of 100%. And there were 327 questionnaires were valid, with a valid rate of 95.61%. The median first aid knowledge score was 9 (7, 10) for the participants when the total score was 18. The median scores of first aid skills (total 5), treatment of common emergencies and traumas (total 6), and management of environmental emergencies (total 7) were 2 (2, 3), 3 (2, 4) and 3 (3, 4), respectively. There was a significant difference in the mastery of first aid knowledge among students from different non-medical academies (P<0.05). Students who had received first aid education had better mastery of first aid knowledge than those who had not (P<0.05). Genders, ages, and length of military service were not influencing factors of the mastery of first aid knowledge (all P>0.05). Totally 83.79% (274/327) of the respondents thought it was necessary to learn first aid knowledge, and 90.21% (295/327) hoped to learn first aid knowledge through face-to-face teaching. Conclusion The first aid knowledge among non-medical naval students is poor, and there is a lack of effective education and a long-term training mechanism needs to be established.