Page Layout - Individual Ship History

These pages will give an overview history of each ship's career.

In a departure from the usual practice, all individual ship pages will have a medium gray background and a grey title bar. All other header bars and highlights will carry the same colors as the ship's era of origin.

The page will usually begin with a short summary of the ship's history.

Highlights of Ship's Service History

This section will contain a listing of notable events in the ship's career. Each entry will begin with a color-coded block. One or more icons may be included giving a graphic representation of the event being described; some of the "standard" events are described below.

If a ship's career spans more than one era, the date blocks will be approriately colored. The various colors are shown in the examples below.

Indicates the year that subsequent events take place.

On rare occasions when several events occur on a given day, the date may be placed in a stand-alone block. In this case, the individual event entries will be identified by the time they occured.

Ordered/Authorised: The date(s) that the construction of the ship was authorized by Congress (usually in a budget bill) and the contract was actually awarded. The quill pen icon (Administrative Action) will also be used for such events as renamings, changes of command and changes of designation.

Keel laid: The date that construction actually begins, usually when the first part of the ship is laid out in the slipway or drydock where the ship will be built. Some prefabrication of components may occur before this date.

Launched: The date the ship is actually launched and floats for the first time. This entry will usually name the ship's sponsor - an individual, usually female, who breaks the traditional bottle of champagne across the bow or forefoot of the ship and ceremonially names it: "I christen thee the United States Ship ..."

Commissioned: The date that the Navy formally accepts the ship from the builder. The crew sets the first watch and the Captain reads his orders officially taking command. In actuality, the Captain, most of the senior officers and a good part of the crew have been working on the ship for some time at this point.

Decommissioned: The date that the ship is removed from active service. The flag is hauled down, the last watch is relieved and the Captain reads the order transferring the ship to a storage or preservation facility.

Stricken from the Navy List: The date that the Navy officially relinquished ownership of the ship. On this date, it is no longer government property.

Final disposition: The fate of the ship. The icon will usually indicate the circumstances: scrapped , expended as a target , sunk as an artificial reef , placed in reserve (permanant storage) , or transferred to a civilian organization for use as a museum . Other fates may also occur.

Notes

This section will contain various items of interest about the ship, not previously mentioned. Other U.S. Navy ships that carried the same name will usually be mentioned here, with links to their Other Ships entries.

Sources

The first entry under Sources will be the ship's Official Website, if the ship is in commission. Ship's Official Website Ships preserved as museums will show a link to the museum's home page: Museum Ship Normally, sources will also include links to the ship's entry at the websites listed: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at the U. S. Naval Historical Center United States Naval Vessel Register Wikipedia Online Library of Selected Images at the U. S. Naval Historical Center NavSource: Photographic History of the U.S. Navy Haze Gray & Underway

Other sources will also be listed. Most will include icons giving the nature of the source. These could include, for example: Books Videos , or Websites Wikipedia articles

About The Carrier Project
General Site Organization	Page Layout	Technology
Site Conventions	General Information	The Site Refit
Images	Ship Class Data	The Site Refit (Older Notes)
Glossary: Words and Abbreviations	Individual Ship Data	List of Page Dedications

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