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.
USS Captor (PYc-40), briefly the seventh ship to bear the name USS Eagle (AM-132), was a Q-ship of the United States Navy.
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service and provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by providing fuel and stores through replenishment at sea, transporting Royal Marines and British Army personnel, providing medical care and transporting equipment and essentials around the world. In addition the RFA acts independently providing humanitarian aid, counter piracy and counter narcotic patrols together with assisting the Royal Navy in preventing conflict and securing international trade. They are a uniformed civilian branch of the Royal Navy staffed by British merchant sailors. The RFA is one of five RN fighting arms.
USS Constellation is a sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship designed and built by the United States Navy. She was built at the Gosport Shipyard between 1853 and 1855. She was named for the earlier frigate of the same name that had been broken up in 1853. The sloop's primary armament was 8-inch (203 mm) shell-firing guns and four 32-pounder long guns, though she carried other guns as well, including two Parrott rifle chase guns. Constellation's career as a front-line unit was relatively short; after entering service in 1855, she served with the Mediterranean Squadron until 1858, and in 1859, she was assigned as the flagship of the Africa Squadron, where she served with the African Slave Trade Patrol. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the ship returned to the Mediterranean to patrol for Confederate vessels. In late 1864, she returned to the United States to be decommissioned, as most of her crews' enlistments had expired. She spent the rest of the war out of service.
USS Abatan (AW-4) was a Pasig-class distilling ship built for the United States Navy during World War II, named after the Abatan River located in the southwestern part of Bohol Island in the Philippines.
USS Onyx (PYc-5), was a diesel coastal patrol yacht of the United States Navy during World War II.
USS Sausalito (PF-4), was a Tacoma-class patrol frigate in commission from 1944 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1952, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Sausalito, California. She also served in the Soviet Navy as EK-16 and in the Republic of Korea Navy as ROKS Imchin (PF-66).
USNS Mission San Francisco (T-AO-123) was a Mission Buenaventura-class oiler that served in the United States Navy. The ship was originally intended as USS Contoocook (AO-104) for the U.S. Navy but her acquisition was canceled. The ship, a Type T2-SE-A3 tanker, was completed as SS Mission San Francisco and delivered after the end of World War II. The tanker was acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1947 as USS Mission San Francisco (AO-123), but was transferred to the Military Sea Transport Service (MSTS) upon its creation in 1949. During a second stint with the MSTS that began in 1954, Mission San Francisco collided with the freighter Elna II in the Delaware River coast and was declared unsalvageable by the U.S. Navy. The ship was one of two U.S. Navy vessels named for the Franciscan mission of San Francisco de Asís located in San Francisco, California.
USS Bayonne (PF-21), a Tacoma-class frigate in commission in 1945 and from 1950 to 1953, thus far has been the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Bayonne, New Jersey. She later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-25 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Buna (PF-14), JDS Buna (PF-294) and as YAC-11.
USS Mineral County (LST-988) was an LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named after Mineral County, West Virginia, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Aristaeus (ARB-1) was planned as a United States Navy LST-1-class tank landing ship, but was redesignated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. The lead ship in her class, she was named for Aristaeus, the only US Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Agenor (ARL-3) was one of 39 Achelous-class repair ship landing craft repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Agenor, she was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Valor (AMc-108) was an Accentor-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the first U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name.
USS Adria (AF-30) was an Adria-class stores ship in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1954. She was scrapped in 1977.
USS Skimmer (AMc-53) was an Accentor-class coastal minesweeper acquired by the U.S. Navy for the dangerous task of removing mines from minefields laid in the water to prevent ships from passing.
The USS Araner (IX-226) was laid down as the liberty ship Juan de Fuca under a Maritime Commission contract on 15 November 1942 at Vancouver, Washington, by the Oregon Shipbuilding Company and launched on 27 December 1942. The ship was delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 11 January 1943 and immediately placed under a standard WSA operating agreement with Weyerhauser Steamship Company.
The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging. A ship-sloop was rigged with three masts whereas a brig-sloop was rigged as a brig with only a fore mast and a main mast.
USNS Coastal Crusader (AK-220/ORV-16/T-AGM-16/AGS-36) was an Alamosa-class cargo ship that was constructed for the US Navy during the closing period of World War II. She was later acquired by the US Army in 1946 and the US Air Force in 1957 before being reacquired by the USN in 1964 and as a missile range instrumentation ship.
USNS Sgt. Curtis F. Shoup (T-AG-175) was a C1-M-AV1 coastal freighter. Built as Spindle Eye, one of the many named for knots. The ship, modified to be a "news transmission ship" for the press during the planned invasion of Japan, was completed 9 July 1945, delivered to the War Shipping Administration and placed under its agent Lykes Brothers Steamship Company the same day. Days later, on 26 July, Spindle Eye was bareboat chartered to the War Department for operation by the Army. The ship was renamed November 1947 by the Army, after serving as a radio relay ship at the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests and conversion to an Army passenger-cargo vessel, Sgt. Curtis F. Shoup in honor Sergeant Curtis F. Shoup who had been awarded the Medal of Honor.
USNS Marine Adder (T-AP–193) was a troop ship for the United States Navy in the 1950s. She was built in 1945 for the United States Maritime Commission as SS Marine Adder, a Type C4-S-A3 troop ship, by the Kaiser Company during World War II. In 1950, the ship was transferred to the Military Sea Transport Service of the U.S. Navy as a United States Naval Ship staffed by a civilian crew. After ending her naval service in 1957, she entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet, but was sold for commercial use in 1967. She was used in part to carry supplies to support the Vietnam War efforts. During the Summer of 1972 while in Da Nang Port, South Vietnam, a limpet mine was attached to the vessel by a swimmer, blowing a hole in the hull upon detonation. In order to save the ship, the Skipper ran it aground in the Da Nang harbor. The US Navy standby salvage ship USS Grasp with its crew of divers installed a box patch over the hole and pumped the water from the bilges, before moving the ship to a pier. US Army tanks hung from ship booms to heel the ship so that a metal patch could be welded in place to return the ship to duty. SS Transcolorado, she was chartered by the Military Sealift Command as a civilian cargo ship designated T-AK-2005.
United States