The U.S. Navy has well-established line-crossing rituals. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are nicknamed Shellbacks, Trusty Shellbacks, Honorable Shellbacks, or Sons of Neptune. Those who have not crossed are nicknamed Pollywogs, or Slimy Pollywogs.
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There, they crawled down a gauntlet of shellbacks on both sides of a long, heavy canvas runner, about 10–12 meters. The shellbacks had prepared 3-foot, or 1-meter, lengths of canvas/rubber firehose, which they swung hard at the posterior of each wog. The wogs then ascended a ladder to the boatdeck to slide down a makeshift chute into the baptism of messdeck leavings in sea water in an inflated liferaft back on the superstructure deck. Wogs then returned to the forecastle, where they were hosed off by firehose and then allowed to kiss, in turn, the belly of the sea-baby, the foot of the sea-hag, and the ring of King Neptune, each personified by shellbacks.
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The two-day event (evening and day) is a ritual in which previously inducted crew members (Trusty Shellbacks), aka Seamen of the U.S. Navy, are organized into a "Court of Neptune" and induct the Slimy Pollywogs into "the mysteries of the Deep". Physical hardship, in keeping with the spirit of the initiation, is tolerated, and each Pollywog is expected to endure a standard initiation rite in order to become a Shellback. Depending on the Ocean or Fleet AOR, there can be variations in the rite. Some rites have discussed a role reversal as follows, but this is not always a normal feature, and may be dependent on whether a small number of Shellbacks exist to conduct the initiation.
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On 8 July, the "Pollywogs" took over the ship, but revenge was taken the very next day. As Fiske crossed the Equator at Longitude 106 degrees, 27 minutes East, in the Singapore Strait, the segment of the crew that heretofore had never crossed the equator received justice from those who had: the "Shellbacks", and were mercifully, and most ceremonially converted from "Pollywogs" to "Shellbacks" after suffering the pains and torments required when entering the realm of King Neptune himself. DesRon 12 headed west, with stops at Penang, Malaysia, then Cochin, India, and Aden Protectorate, British Crown Colony, through the Red Sea (complete with a desert sandstorm), and the Suez Canal. Entering the Mediterranean Sea, she anchored in the port of Piraeus, Greece, the port of Athens.
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From Okinawa, she sailed back to Saipan, and received orders to head to the South Pacific. The crew was initiated from 'pollywogs' into respectable 'shellbacks' at the Equator. From Tulagi she steamed to Noumea, New Caledonia, then back to the Mariana Islands. On the morning of 3 July, on the way into Guam, she participated in the air-sea rescue of 10 downed Army fliers.
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The "subchaser" arrived in Pearl Harbor on 16 May 1943 and spent the next two months towing targets and picket duty on the sonar "ping line" patrolling for enemy submarines near Pearl Harbor. On 7 August the ship sailed to Palmyra Atoll and Canton Island. The equator was crossed at 167 degrees West on 13 August and the new "polliwogs" were initiated by the experienced "shellbacks" among the crew into the Ancient Order of the Deep. A PC-598 crewman's Trusty Shellback card.
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Crossing the equator ceremony (with "Davy Jones" with yellow cape and a plunger as sceptre) aboard the , 24 February 1960 as part of the Operation Sandblast cruise Not all traditions dealing with Davy Jones are fearful. In traditions associated with sailors crossing the Equatorial line, there was a "raucous and rowdy" initiation presided over by those who had crossed the line before, known as shellbacks, or Sons of Neptune. The eldest shellback was called King Neptune, and Davy Jones would be re-enacted as his first assistant.
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This resulted in the initiation of the "Pollywogs" (those who have not crossed the equator) by the "Shellbacks" (those who have crossed the equator). Lastly, she traversed the inland waterway from West to East at the tip of South American before continuing the cruise up the East coast of the continent. Stops during this cruise included Caracas, Venezuela; Cartagena, Colombia; Lima, Peru; Valparaiso, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza, Brazil. In 1995 she deployed as part of the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic.
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In October 1985, Biddle deployed for the Mediterranean with the battle group. In November as planned, she detached from the Coral Sea battle group and joined the aircraft carrier for a transit through the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean for the bulk of operations in the North Arabian Sea. The battle group crossed the equator on 10 December 1985 and participating crewmembers became "Shellbacks." During a port visit in early January 1986 at Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, the battle group was informed that they needed to get underway on very short notice.
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This crossing made history as being the only time a Marine Corps unit has celebrated the birthday twice in the same year. All newly initiated Shellbacks from the trip to Australia were inducted into the Order Of The Golden Shellback. Ogden was damaged when she collided with the submarine on 27 February 2002, which opened a five by 18 inch hole in one of her fuel tanks. Despite the fact that the collision was the fault of the Greenville, the Captain of the Ogden was still relieved of his command.
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She remained flagship of Scouting Force 1 until 1941. On 18 November 1936, she embarked Roosevelt a third time at Charleston, South Carolina, and conducted a goodwill cruise to South America with him. She visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, for state visits before returning to Charleston and disembarking Roosevelt's party on 15 December. President Roosevelt underwent his crossing the line ceremony on this cruise on 26 November: an "intensive initiation lasting two days, but we have all survived and are now full-fledged Shellbacks".
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Winding up her Philippine Sea Frontier duty, Brock set course for Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, on 20 August 1945 and crossed the equator for the first time on 23 August 1945; in the traditional "Neptune Ceremonies," her 33 "shellbacks" duly initiated nearly 200 "pollywogs," including the commanding officer and 10 of the 12 officers on board. Later that day, Brock dropped anchor in Humboldt Bay, New Guinea. On 27 August 1945, she set a return course for the Philippines, and she reached Leyte on 31 August 1945. Heading for Manila on Luzon on 1 September 1945, Brock reached Manila on 3 September 1945.
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Ogden had turned sailors and Marines into Golden Shellbacks on at least five occasions. On 10 November 1976, June 24, 1985,1988, 1992, and again in November 1999, Ogden crossed the Equator and the International Dateline simultaneously. During the 2001 crossing, Ogden was hosting Alpha Company 1/1 BLT of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Special Note: On 10 November 1976, the Marine Corps 201st birthday, BLT 2/3 based out of KMCAS Hawaii, en route from Australia to Pearl Harbor after conducting the joint Operation Kangaroo II, simultaneously crossed the International Dateline (Longitude 180) and the Equator (Latitude 00).
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The transition flows from established order to the controlled "chaos" of the Pollywog Revolt, the beginnings of re-order in the initiation rite as the fewer but experienced enlisted crew converts the Wogs through physical tests, then back to, and thereby affirming, the pre-established order of officers and enlisted. The eve of the equatorial crossing is called Wog Day and, as with many other night-before rituals, is a mild type of reversal of the day to come. Wogs—all of the uninitiated—are allowed to capture and interrogate any shellbacks they can find (e.g., tying them up, cracking eggs or pouring aftershave lotion on their heads).
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Once the ceremony is complete, a Pollywog receives a certificate declaring his new status. Another rare status is the Golden Shellback, a person who has crossed the Equator at the 180th meridian. The rarest Shellback status is that of the Emerald Shellback (US), or Royal Diamond Shellback (Commonwealth), which is received after crossing the Equator at the prime meridian, near the Null Island weather buoy. When a ship must cross the Equator reasonably close to one of these meridians, the ship's captain will typically plot a course across the Golden X so that the ship's crew can be initiated as Golden or Emerald/Royal Diamond Shellbacks.
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This resulted in the initiation of the "Pollywogs" (those who have not crossed the equator) by the "Shellbacks" (those who have crossed the equator). During this period, John Rodgers made port calls on four continents, including Panama, Spain, Italy, France, Monaco, England, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Bahrain and Kenya. On September 16, 1983 while operating off Lebanon, John Rodgers fired her 5" guns against Syrian controlled portions of Lebanon in response to Syrian shelling near the residence of the U.S. ambassador and harassing fire upon the U.S. Marines stationed at the Beirut airport. This made her the very first ship to use the 5" 54 caliber Mark 45 gun in actual combat.
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While in transit to a port call in Australia, the crew received word that three sailors from the command ship had assaulted a taxi driver in Cebu, Philippines. In an effort to smooth tensions with the Philippine Government, Asheville was directed to make way for Subic Bay, Philippines. Prior to pulling into Subic Bay, the captain took Asheville to a location a few miles south of the Equator for crew members to become Shellbacks. The next day while steaming north, Asheville stopped off the coast of Borneo where the captain allowed a swim call. On 28 April 2000, Asheville pulled into Subic Bay, and became the second U.S. Navy submarine to port in Subic Bay Freeport in four years.
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Other ports of call during the deployment included Okinawa, Japan; Pohang and Pusan, Korea; Pattaya Beach, Thailand; Hobart, Tasmania and Pearl Harbor, HI. Anchorage had the privilege to turn sailors and Marines into Golden Shellbacks on 4 March 1987 when she crossed the Equator and the International Dateline simultaneously. During the 1987 crossing, Anchorage was hosting Golf Battery 3/12. After the Crossing the Line Ceremony at the Equator, Belleau Wood lost power as both engines and one of two generators stopped, causing her to drift for 5 days at sea and have to be towed by the Anchorage. Destined for Tasmania, the Belleau Wood limped into Sydney Harbor for repairs to the boilers while the Anchorage replaced her in Tasmania.
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During the trip to Kenya, USS Worden conducted the traditional 'Wog Day' ceremony on 10 June 1980, with 230 crewmembers, including the ship's executive officer, Commander Arthur Newlon USN, crossing the equator for the first time, becoming Shellbacks in the eyes of King Neptune and Davy Jones. USS Worden arrived at Mombasa on 12 June 1980 after 55 days at sea. After a relaxing six days in Kenya, USS Worden returned to the Gulf of Oman, resuming her role as Air Defence Commander on 22 June 1980, the cruiser continued to operate with the Eisenhower and Constellation Battle Groups before she again departed Gonzo Station on 6 July 1980, this time for good, steaming south east and arriving in Perth/Fremantle, Western Australia, at A Shed, Victoria Quay, Fremantle Harbour on 16 July 1980.
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The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps, and other navies that commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the Equator. The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as a boost to morale,Robert FitzRoy (1839) Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, London: Henry Colburn. pp. 57–58. or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are nicknamed (Trusty) Shellbacks, often referred to as Sons of Neptune; those who have not are nicknamed (Slimy) Pollywogs (in 1832 the nickname griffins was noted Keynes, R. D. ed.
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