Launch of Navy Ship Is End of a Tradition

For more than a century, Bath Iron Works has gotten its ships from soil to sea by launching them down a greased ramp into the Kennebec River.

But the launch of the Mason, a Navy destroyer, marked the end of an era during which more than 350 vessels were put to sea. From now on, a dry dock will set ships afloat directly in the river--a model of simplicity compared to the ramp launches.

The old-fashioned method “is dangerous and technically complex. Everything has got to go right. Short of combat, it’s the next most dangerous circumstance these ships will find themselves in,” said Tom Wilcox of the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.