PANAMA CITY, Fla. – It was 15 minutes before noon when a roaring “aye-aye” came from the sailors lined up in neat white rows on the dock before the newly commissioned USS Momsen, soon to be the newest addition to Naval Station Everett.
To the beat of a U.S. Navy band, the ship’s crew began to jog toward the front and back ends of the vessel. They lined the starboard side of the ship, manning the rails at perfectly spaced intervals.
At the same time, the deck gun, radars, satellite dishes and other movable hardware began rotating as the Navy’s 42nd Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer came to life.
With its commissioning on Saturday, the Momsen earned the title USS, joining the Navy fleet.
The effort was the culmination of years of preparation by the Momsen’s crew, who will be known as the ship’s “plank owners” for their work.
However, the Momsen isn’t headed for a war zone just yet.
The ship’s crew will leave Panama City in the next two days to test the ship’s remote mine-hunting system, which was conceptualized at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Panama City. After a week in the Gulf of Mexico, the crew will return to Port Panama City for a day, then depart for the ship’s home port in Everett.
“Today is essentially the ship’s birthday,” said Dionel Aviles, assistant secretary of the Navy.
Aviles said the destroyer, which carries the Aegis weapons system, will almost certainly steer into harm’s way during its commissioned life. The Aegis system is designed to track and shoot down aircraft.
“In a few minutes, the Momsen will join the Navy and a nation that is actively waging a global war on terrorism,” Aviles said prior to the commissioning. “It is a war in which the forces of free and open democracies will prevail over the forces of brutal oppression and hatred.”
Momsen Cmdr. Ed Kenyon told the audience, “During the life span of this ship, more than 3,000 sailors will cross the brow, report for duty and call the Momsen their home.”
He described the ship’s namesake, Vice Adm. Charles Bowers “Swede” Momsen, as “an innovator and a visionary, a hero in a time of crisis and a legend among the diving and salvage community.”
Kenyon said naming the destroyer after Momsen was appropriate because of his diverse career. The officer, who died in 1967, commanded submarines and a battleship during his career. He is most famous for developing the Momsen Lung, a submarine rescue breathing apparatus, and leading the rescue of 33 submarine crew members when the USS Squalus sank off the coast of New Hampshire in 1939.
“Our destroyer is our most diversely capable ship,” Kenyon said.
The Momsen pulled into Port Panama City on Aug. 20. Those who managed to get some of the 6,000 tickets for tours and the commissioning ceremony began arriving long before the ceremony began on Saturday.
Dianne Eaton of Panama City was sitting beneath a red umbrella at 9:30 a.m., shading herself from the heat. Despite the steamy August weather, Eaton said she wouldn’t have missed the ceremony for anything.
“I just think that it’s an opportunity that you don’t ever get,” she said. “I guess it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Gov. Jeb Bush provided the keynote speech, commending the ship’s namesake and the crew “who tirelessly worked to make this day happen.”
“Momsen’s courage, honor and commitment to his fellow sailors reflect the heart of a true patriot, and we know that the courageous men and women who man the ship that proudly bears his name will reflect the same courage, the same honor, the same commitment,” Bush said.
“Today we’re commissioning a ship that will carry a whole new generation of Americans to places like Iraq and Afghanistan in the defense of that same cause.”
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., used the commissioning as a chance to promote military spending.
“We’ve got a budget that says we’re only going to build four ships a year,” he said following the ceremony. “If we’re going to have the kind of Navy we need, we need up to 10 new ships a year.”
Faith Ford is a reporter for the News Herald in Panama City, Fla.
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