PCU Manchester (LCS 14) Conducts Traditional Mast Stepping Ceremony

Courtesy Photo | 171020-N-ZZ999-003 MOBILE, Ala. (Oct. 20, 2017) A Sailor assigned to the Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Manchester (LCS 14), places an item into the ceremonial box during a mast-stepping ceremony in Mobile, Alabama, Oct. 20. PCU Manchester is currently undergoing the final stages of production in the Austal USA shipyard of Mobile, Alabama. LCS vessels are high-speed, agile, shallow draft, mission-focused surface combatants designed for operations in the littoral environment, yet fully capable of open ocean operations. As part of the surface fleet, LCS has the ability to counter and outpace evolving threats independently or within a network of surface combatants. (U.S. Navy Photo by PCU Manchester (LCS 14) Public Affairs/RELEASED).  

MOBILE, AL, UNITED STATES

10.20.2017

Courtesy Story

Commander, Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1

By: PCU Manchester (LCS 14) Public Affairs

MOBILE, Ala. (Oct. 20, 2017) – The crew of Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) Manchester (LCS 14), conducted a mast-stepping ceremony in Mobile, Alabama, Oct. 20.

Cmdr. Emily Bassett, Prospective Commanding Officer, USS Manchester (LCS 14), explained the origins of the tradition in her opening remarks.

“Stepping the mast is the maritime custom of placing coins under a ship’s mast that dates back to ancient Roman and Greek sailors,” said Bassett. “They believed this would guarantee safe passage for the crew if a ship was lost at sea. The coins were intended to pay Charon…for transporting souls across the River Styx: the gateway to the underworld.”

The coins that were placed into PCU Manchester’s box were not gold or silver, nor of any denominations that can be tallied. Their worth lies in their use as symbols of the legacy that connects the ship, her crew, her namesake, her sponsors, and her builder. The box was welded in place at the bottom of the mast and will ride with the ship and every crew that mans her until it is broken open upon decommissioning.

Coins were placed into the box was from Austal USA, the builder of all Independence-class littoral combat ships; from Commander, Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE, the commander of all San Diego-based LCS; from Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ship’s sponsor and United States Senator from New Hampshire; from the Mayor of Manchester, New Hampshire, the ship’s namesake city; from Capt. Jay Hennessey, Crew 214’s sponsor; from Crew 214’s Chiefs’ Mess; and from the ship’s future first Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Bassett.

Additional items placed into the box included an LCS Crew 214 sticker from the crew’s commissioning; a bos’n pipe from General Dynamics; a sand dollar from San Diego; a letter from PCU Manchester’s commissioning Commanding Officer to her decommissioning Commanding Officer; and a card bearing the ship’s crest signed by every member of the pre-commissioning crew—the future plankowners of USS Manchester.

PCU Manchester is currently undergoing the final stages of production in the Austal USA shipyard of Mobile, Alabama.

LCS vessels are high-speed, agile, shallow draft, mission-focused surface combatants designed for operations in the littoral environment, yet fully capable of open ocean operations. As part of the surface fleet, LCS has the ability to counter and outpace evolving threats independently or within a network of surface combatants. Paired with advanced sonar and mine hunting capabilities, LCS provides a major contribution, as well as a more diverse set of options to commanders, across the spectrum of operations.

For more news from Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE, visit http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lcsron1/Pages/default.aspx

• Date Taken: 10.20.2017
• Date Posted: 10.23.2017 18:00
• Story ID: 252714
• Location: MOBILE, AL, US