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Keel laying

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Driving the first or "golden" rivet during USS Missouri's keel laying, 1941
Driving the first or "golden" rivet during USS Missouri's keel laying, 1941
Laying of the keel of USCGC Mariposa (WLB-397) in 1943
Laying of the keel of USCGC Mariposa (WLB-397) in 1943
Keel laying ceremony for USS Freedom (LCS-1), 2005. Note the pre-fabricated module in the background.
Keel laying ceremony for USS Freedom (LCS-1), 2005. Note the pre-fabricated module in the background.

Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.

Keel laying is one of the four specially celebrated events in the life of a ship; the others are launching, commissioning and decommissioning.

In earlier times, the event recognized as the keel laying was the initial placement of the central timber making up the backbone of a vessel, called the keel. As steel ships replaced wooden ones, the central timber gave way to a central steel beam.

Modern ships are most commonly built in a series of pre-fabricated, complete hull sections rather than around a single keel. The event recognized as the keel laying is the first joining of modular components, or the lowering of the first module into place in the building dock. It is now often called "keel authentication", and is the ceremonial beginning of the ship's life, although some modules may have been started months before that stage of construction.[1][2][3]

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Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.

Keel

Keel

The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. The laying of the keel is often the initial step in the construction of a ship. In the British and American shipbuilding traditions, this event marks the beginning date of a ships construction.

Ceremonial ship launching

Ceremonial ship launching

Ceremonial ship launching involves the performance of ceremonies associated with the process of transferring a vessel to the water. It is a nautical tradition in many cultures, dating back thousands of years, to accompany the physical process with ceremonies which have been observed as public celebration and a solemn blessing, usually but not always, in association with the launch itself.

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries-old naval tradition.

Traditions

Keel-related traditions from the times of wooden ships are said to bring luck to the ship during construction and to the captain and crew during her later life. They include placing a newly minted coin under the keel and constructing the ship over it, having the youngest apprentice place the coin, and when the ship is finished, presenting the owners with the oak block on which the keel is laid.[4][5] The tradition of the placement of coins derives from the mast stepping custom of placing coins under the mast and is believed to date back to Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome and were intended to "pay the ferryman" to convey the souls of the dead across the River Styx should the ship sink.[6]

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Mast stepping

Mast stepping

Mast stepping is the process of raising the mast of a boat. It may be a ceremonial occasion on a new boat, a necessary step, or simply routine.

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity, that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and other territories. Most of these regions were officially unified only once, for 13 years, under Alexander the Great's empire from 336 to 323 BC. In Western history, the era of classical antiquity was immediately followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine period.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

In modern historiography, Ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire.

Charon's obol

Charon's obol

Charon's obol is an allusive term for the coin placed in or on the mouth of a dead person before burial. Greek and Latin literary sources specify the coin as an obol, and explain it as a payment or bribe for Charon, the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. Archaeological examples of these coins, of various denominations in practice, have been called "the most famous grave goods from antiquity."

Styx

Styx

In Greek mythology, Styx is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, which sometimes is also called the Styx. According to Herodotus, the river Styx originates near Pheneus. Styx is also known as the goddess of the river, the source of its miraculous powers.

US Navy traditions

The first milestone in the history of a ship is the generally simple ceremony that marks the laying of the keel. Invitations to the ceremony are issued by shipyard officials, and the ceremony is conducted by them. The builder may be the commander of a naval shipyard or the president of a private company. The ship's prospective name, without the "USS", is mentioned in the invitation, if known; otherwise her type and number are given, e.g., DD 2217.[7] For submarines, they do not have a keel to be laid, instead, the initials of the ship sponsor is welded on a steel plate during the ceremony. The plate will be mounted in a place of honor on the submarine once built.[8]

Source: "Keel laying", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, September 16th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keel_laying.

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References
  1. ^ NAVSEA – Naval Sea Systems Command. "Shipbuilding 101". Archived from the original on 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  2. ^ "Ship Building Milestones". Navy League of the United States. Retrieved 2013-06-05.
  3. ^ "Australia: Austal Holds Keel-Laying Ceremony..." NavalToday.com. 8 Jun 2012.
  4. ^ "Keel laying ceremony for two Ro-Ro special ships for DFDS A/S". P+S WERFTEN Gmbh. 9 Aug 2011. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013.
  5. ^ "Aker Philadelphia Shipyard Holds Ceremonial Keel Laying". American Shipping Company. 7 May 2009. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013.
  6. ^ Lenzini, Heidi (January 25, 2013). "Mast Stepping: A Mariner's Tradition | Navy Live". United States Navy. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  7. ^ Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (15 Jun 2001). OPNAVINST 1710.7A – Social Usage and Protocol Handbook (PDF). Washington, DC. p. 9-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  8. ^ "GDEB Lays Keel of Submarine District of Columbia (SSBN 826)". Naval News. 5 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.

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