Today, 25 November, 1959, marks one of the most solemn traditions of the sea. At the moment of breaking her commission pennant, U.S.S. Charles Berry (DE-1035) becomes an active ship of the U.S. Navy. Upon the shoulders of her Captain and her crew will rest responsibilities with unknown horizons.

U.S.S. CHARLES BERRY will symbolize the striking power of the U.S. Navy. This power comes from readiness, training, and hard work. It symbolizes long hours and long separations from loved ones. It symbolizes the highest traditions of the Naval Service, the occasional exciting action, the tedious and routing patrol.

The profession of going to sea in ships is exacting and precise. The integration of teamwork and science, of work and play, is a job for which there can be no substitute for devotion. The modern warship is a city of steel, of surging power, of rapid firing guns and underwater weapons. Hundreds of men work in cramped quarters, eat and sleep in shifts. Gun crews sit huddled at their stations in the stormy seas or under a blistering tropical sun.

From this fusion of labor, of skill and dedication comes the fighting ship, ready to join the fleet.

This is the beginning of such a ship and the crew who will keep her constantly ready for any service demanded by our great nation in peace or war.