Matthew Perry Christening Ceremony

I had a fun outing the other afternoon, Toni ran across an ad for a ship christening. Living in San Diego I had never been to a ships christening, I decided to make the time and attend something new for me. I took the trolley south and headed to Nassco General Dynamics ship yard on Harbor Drive. The ship designed and built by General Dynamics was the USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9), the mission of this ship is to deliver ammunition, provisions, stores, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to various strike groups and other naval forces, by serving as a shuttle ship.

A little history about Commodore Matthew Perry, he was born into a naval family on April 10, 1794, a son of Captian Christopher R. Perry a naval officer who served during the revolutionary war. His four brothers were all naval officers and two sisters also married naval men.

Matthew Perry is credited as the 'Father of the Steam Navy' a strong proponent of modernizing the navy with steam power.

Commodore Matthew C. Perry died on March 4, 1858, in New York City, the ship which bears his name is the ninth ship of the Lewis and Clark class.