Originally posted by zraver
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It's funny. The most symbolicly (& actually) important position to hold in the Navy is that of commanding officer of a ship at the actual rank of Captain. It holds an even more traditional importance than its nearest equivalent in the Army or Marines, which is Colonel in command of a regiment, with all the history that implies. This is probably because of the tremendous amount of independence sea captains had in the sailing days because of the inability to communicate with superiors. Couldn't just whistle for a galloper to take a message back to Portsmouth if you were in the Pacific. So it's odd that CoC ceremonies are so brief. At least were brief for "little" ships like the Pepsi. Maybe it would be different on board the Ronald Reagan. \
What it amounted to for us was crew assembly, "Permission to come aboard", a simple reading of the transfer order, acceptance, salutes, some boatswain's pipes & "Permission to go ashore" on the part of the ex. Not even any speeches. But the powers that be do expect everyone to be natty, so I didn't want to let Willie J. down in front of a new Captain. 'Course, I didn't mind squirting lemon juice in his eye once it was over.
Prof
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