Various directives pertaining to these events are issued periodically, and one should check with the District Commandant's office for local guidance.
Questions often arise concerning the proper wording of invitations and the agenda for the ceremony.
Fortunately, existing regulations do not predetermine the precise sequence of activities or establish inflexible protocol stipulations. Responsible officials are given a comfortable latitude to produce a ceremony distinctively Navy in heritage and significance, yet singular in its specific circumstances. The information impartecl in this chapter is intended to represent not a rigid standard so much as a concept of what has been done in the past in order to provide a guide to what is traditional and appropriate for the situation. The first milestone in the history of a ship is the generally simple ceremony which marks the laying of the keel. The invitation is issued by shipyard officials and the ceremony conducted by them.