Despite winter weather, thousands of people came to the Port of Anchorage Saturday morning to celebrate the transition of the Navy's newest ship from a vessel to a warship.
For the crew of the USS Anchorage, designated LPD-23, the commissioning ceremony was six years in the making. While the Anchorage is the Navy's seventh San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, Navy officials say it's the first to be commissioned in its namesake city -- as well as the first commissioning ceremony for Alaska's largest city.
"This is the official birthday of the ship," said Robert Mautino, Commissioning Ceremony Planner. "This is the Navy accepting the ship and changing it from a prospective navy ship to a United States ship for the first time."
The commissioning ceremony has been a tradition in the U.S. Navy for more than two centuries, and has been observed for even longer by navies around the world.
The original USS Anchorage, LSD-36, was commissioned in March 1969 in Port Smith, Va. It's a day that LSD-36 crew member George Mellen -- a living link between the two ships, who was also present at Saturday's commissioning in Anchorage -- remembers well.
"It was a lot warmer then it is today, we had a lot fewer people attending," Mellen said. "I was the honor guard and greeting all the guests that came on board; we just had a wonderful day, it's a special event."
The USS Anchorage will depart the Port of Anchorage sometime Monday. There are no further tours scheduled for Sunday, which is slated to be a rest and rehabilitation day for its crew members.
Officials say the Anchorage will take about seven days to sail back to its home port in San Diego, Calif.
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