In light of an announcement by Commander Steven Halle, commanding officer of the USS New Jersey (SSN-796) that the NJROTC cadets at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology on Fort Hancock are being named honorary plank holders, it is interesting to know some of the history of the term. Plank Owner
The submarine is being commissioned Saturday at NWS Earle’s pier in Leonardo, and Commander Halle addressed the students at MAST, presenting a plaque designating plank ownership for their “adoption of the ship since even before commissioning.”
Though neither an official designation nor a title commissioned by the U S Navy, the title of plank owner is held in high respect by members of the US Navy and Coast Guard.
A “plank owner” is a sailor who was the member of the crew of a ship when that ship was placed in commission.
Originally, this term applied only to crew members present at the ship’s first commissioning.
Today, however, it is often applied to members of a recommissioning crew as well and since it is not an official Navy term, it has also been defined differently by different Navy units.
According to the US Naval History and Heritage Command, Plank owner certificates are procured by and issued to crew members of the ship being commissioned. Some ships’ crews design their own, while others purchase them from commercial sources.
As part of a vessel’s decommissioning and disposal process, the Navy formerly removed a small portion of the deck as a traditional reminder of when “wooden walls and iron men” were a key part of the Navy. The last major vessel known to have been fitted with a wooden deck was USS Long Beach (CGN-9), commissioned in 1961.
Probably one of the most famous and entertaining Plank Owner Certificates of any era is that given by Commander. I.C. Kidd, Commanding officer of the USS Barry (DD-933) a destroyer commissioned 68 years ago this month, built at the Bath Iron Works and decommissioned in November 1983.
The ship was the third destroyer named for Commodore John Barry, and spent a career in the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Mediterranean seas, served in the Vietnam War, for which she earned two battle stars and was in service at the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Commander Kidd made the presentation to Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, a 1923 graduate of the US Naval Academy, since he was on the ship at the commissioning in 1956.
Admiral Burke served aboard both battleships and destroyers, both before and after his service on the USS Barry, in World War II and Korea.
He also served three terms as Chief of Naval Operations. Admiral Burke earned numerous acclamations for his unprecedented service, including having The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), a destroyer named for him while he was still alive, only the fourth time that had occurred since the late 19th century.
He died at age 94 in 1996 and is buried at the Naval Academy Cemetery.
But among all his medals and honors throughout his career, Admiral Burke cherished the plank owner certificate from Commander Kidd which read:
To all sailors wherever ye may be: and to all Salts, Sea Lawyers, Swabs, Land Lubbers, Square-knot Admirals, Gun Deckers, and all the Other Assorted Scavengers of the Seven Seas Greetings:
And Be It Known:
By all ye earthly mortals and others who may be distinguished and honored by his presence That Admiral Arleigh A. Burke was an honored member of the first and most illustrious Navy crew which distinguished itself forever when it commissioned the Good Ship USS Barry DD-933 And, therefore, for this Good and Sufficient Reason, He is entitled by the laws of the sea, to all the rights and privileges of a Plank Owner.
Be it further understood: That he is entitled also to a clear, free, open and unencumbered title to a single plank in the deck of the aforementioned illustrious ship This Final, Accurate Selection Will Be Made In Order Of Seniority according to the treasured, honorable records contained in Davey Jone’s Log Book.
Disobey These Orders Under Extreme Penalty Of My Displeasure
