Page 123 - MustangEbook

sued the Admiralty, and from that time a
lanyard has been secured to the bottle.

The christening of ships became great public
events, with large crowds assembled to
witness the ceremony. And it became
standard for champagne, as the most elite of
wines, to be used for the christening.

The tradition developed that a female would
do the honours and be named the sponsor of Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen inspects the parade
during the commissioning of RSS Sovereignty and
the ship.
RSS Unity at Changi Naval Base.
Maritime superstition held that a ship that
wasn’t properly christened would be
considered unlucky. A champagne bottle that
didn't break was a particularly bad omen.

Today the ceremony usually consists of the
naming of the vessel by a sponsor and the
breaking of a bottle of wine against the ship’s
bow as it slides into the water.
Christenings of the new ship

COMMISSIONING
S/N SEQUENCE OF EVENT
Commissioning marks the placement of a ship
or vessel into active service, which is an 1 Arrival of Guests
indication of its operational readiness
2 Guard of Honour marches in
The RSN has witnessed numerous
commissioning ceremonies, the standard 3 Arrival of Chief of Navy
sequence of events for the ceremony are as 4 Arrival of Chief of Defence Force
follows:
5 Arrival of Officiating Officer
The ship officially becomes
part of the Navy, inheriting 6 Inspection of Guard of Honour
the use of the service prefix
before its name RSS 7 Speech of Officiating Officer
(Republic of Singapore
Ship) in our case. After the 8 Presentation of Commissioning
commissioning ceremony, Officer
the ship earns the right to fly
the commissioning pendant. 9 Breaking of Commissioning Pennant

10 National Anthem and Navy Song