Ship Ceremonies

Navy tradition dictates that each ship constructed for the service be honored on four historic ceremonial occasions: keel-laying, christening (or ‘launching), commissioning and decommissioning. Various directives pertaining to these events are issued periodically, and one should check with the senior Navy official (i.e., Fleet Commander, Type Commander, etc.) office for local guidance.

Questions often arise concerning the proper wording of invitations and the agenda for the ceremony. Fortunately, existing regulations do not predetermine the precise sequence of activities or establish inflexible protocol stipulations. Responsible officials are given a comfortable latitude to produce a ceremony distinctively Navy in heritage and significance, yet singular in its specific circumstances. The information imparted in this chapter is intended to represent not a rigid standard so much as a concept of what has been done in the past in order to provide a guide to what is traditional and appropriate for the situation.