Silver Service, sponsor, plank owners, ships bell

[JALU3]

I have to wonder if anyone has continued on these naval traditions in their series. It use to be that donating a set of Silver Service use to be a point of civic pride when a ship was named in your town/city/states honor . . . or for someone from your place of origin.
Is there still a ship sponsor who continues the role of the lady of a ship . . .
Are there still plank owning crews . . . and can you request a part of YOUR ship after she's been decomissioned and stricken? What about the ships bell . . . is it still rung and heard aboard ship . . .
What other naval traditions am I missing that might still be celebrated . . . crossing the line?

[C5]

The way I view Starfleet, as being much more of a melting pot than seen in the show and thus less Earth-centric, if such traditions were to be celebrated, then traditions from every other member would also have to be.
I expect Starfleet leaves crews handle traditions as they see fit, so a mostly human-crewed starship might indeed follow those, while a mostly Andorian crew would celebrate other traditions, and so.

And I'm quite unable to find an equivalent to the crossing the line celebration... changing Quadrant, maybe (from Beta to Alpha) ?

[The Tatterdemalion King]

As some general thoughts... As we've seen on TNG, the individual tastes of the captain dictates, to a certain extent, the atmosphere aboard ship. Many of these human practices might be informally practiced by certain captains, especially ones who have a personal connection to the traditions; family histories of naval service and the like. Plank-owning or the equivalent I can see being something being common, in one form or another, across many cultures in the Federation, and thus something more likely to be an 'official' Starfleet practice (rather than as a favour arranged through the dudes you know at Qualor II). Silver service might be a little weird if your ship is the USS Gabraxt and the equivalent is carving rights on a spit-roasted Tellarite boardog.

Starfleet is also a space-based force, so traditions coming from each world's history of space exploration would also be present.

[selek]

In my many series, we have continued the plank owner and ship's bell traditions- and there is some canon precedence for such things.

We see the bosun's whistle used in Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country (and technically, the intercom whistle is a continuation of the practice).

The ruffles and flourishes accorded to "President Lincoln" during The Savage Curtain are a similiar hold over.

We hear both the Enterprise and Excelsior's ship's bells in the background during Undiscovered Country, and I believe it's mentioned in dialogue as well (that they sat down to dinner at eight bells or somesuch), though I could be mistaken on the latter.

It's especially noticeable when the backlit Christian Slater (guess he really ticked off the director/producer) wakes Captain Sulu and when Valeris enters Sickbay to "kill the assassins".

I believe (but am not certain) we also see the bell in the redressed Ten-Forward during Final Frontier.

What is not common knowledge is that there are usually two to four ship's bells.

The traditional large brass bell is fixed somewhere forward in the ship's superstructure, has a deep tone and is used during foggy conditions or darkness to warn other vessels of the ship's presence (usually when at anchor, IIRC). A slightly smaller replica of this bell is occasionally mounted in a frame and stationed on the quarter deck for decorative purposes.

A smaller (usually 4 inches in diameter), silver bell is located on the bridge and the quarter deck, and has a much higher pitch and timbre. This bell is used to signify arriving and departing dignitaries (including the ship's captain) and to mark the time during the watch.

I had to join the Navy to get a coherent explanation of the watch bell practice:

Standard Navy watches are four hours long (a hold over from the days of sail). The bell is rung every half hour of the watch (30 minutes was about the longest a sand-filled hour glass could be counted on at sea) when the glass was "turned" or specifically, turned over.

The first half hour was marked with one chime, the second with two, and so on until you reached eight bells (four hours) and the end of the watch.

You would ring eight bells to mark noon, 4 pm, eight pm, midnight, and so on.

12:30 pm, would be marked with one chime, 1 pm with two, 1:30 with three and so on. 4:00 pm would be marked with eight bells, 4:30 with one, 5:00 with two, and the cycle is repeated twenty-four hours. (Most modern warships don't ring the bells during the night when the crew is asleep, but there are exceptions).

Once used, the system becomes almost instinctive, and even after a dozen years out of service, I can tell time to the half hour (even in my sleep) by the number of bells.

Of course, I cheated and set my computer up with a "ship's bell". An old shipmate who came to visit was startled the first time it went off, but called asking for a copy two days after he left.

It seems a number of former sailors find it comforting.

I draw the line at having the bosun's whistle call reveille though!

[Phoenix]

Both Plank-Owners and Ship's Bell (partly replaced by the more common Ship Plaque) have been used in games of mine.

selek; thanks for that nugget of knowledge - need to incorporate that into the game at some point. Still got that program?

[JALU3]

Even though its not naval, I wonder if some ships with Captains who are from a different military lineage use different systems then bells. For instance, what if someone is from the commonwealth nations, and use the commonwealth systems of bugle calls . . . same can say from American Army traditions . . . where they use the slightly different bugle system.
Or some other nations or planets system of time keeping.
I am sure that there are pretty standard regulations though that would limit what can and cannot be used . . . or what is used more often used.
Even in para-military organizations there are certain protocals which are adhered to.