Do you know the final rite of passage for the launching of a large ship?

The final rite of passage for the launching of a large ship is the "bottle-throwing ceremony". The "Bottle Throwing Ceremony" is an imported product, and this imported product has its origins in a beautiful legend. In later years, especially with the use of high technology, marine accidents have become less frequent, so people use the bottle to break the bottle in order to wish for no more shipwrecks, and to pray for the safe return of every person who goes to sea.

On June 28, 2017, at the launching ceremony of the first ship of the Chinese Navy's Type 055 10,000-ton destroyer, there was a very foreign item - the "bottle-throwing ceremony." This is not the first time that the Chinese Navy has played this "foreign stuff", at least in April 26 when China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier 001A was launched, there has been a "bottle-throwing ceremony".

The "bottle-throwing ceremony" is an imported item that has its roots in a poignant legend. A long time ago, sailing was a hard and dangerous occupation. Because the shipbuilding industry is not developed, the sea navigation technology is also extremely backward, so when the ship encountered a shipwreck, let God is the only choice of the seamen. In the face of the storm of nature, the powerless seafarers can do is to write the last words on paper, into the bottle, and will be sealed and thrown into the sea ...... In that era, the sea in the drift bottle and not today's imagination in the romantic, it is loaded with just a shipwrecked person's last words. Developed later, especially the massive use of high technology today, nautical accidents are declining; people then use the way to break the bottle to wish that shipwrecks will never happen again, praying that everyone who goes out to sea will return safely.

Complicated sea conditions are the "enemy" that all seafarers have to face

Today's "bottle-throwing ceremony" on both Chinese and foreign ships uses champagne, but there are still some differences. When the "bottle toss" first appeared, it was usually performed by a respected male (royalty, nobility, officials, etc.), and gradually evolved to be performed by a female (spouse or daughter of royalty, nobility, officials).

However, in the history of Chinese navigation and shipbuilding, there was no such "broken peace" way of praying. Instead, a coin was placed between the ship's keel and the main mast as a token of blessing to pray for the ship's safe voyage. In modern times, as cultural exchanges between China and the West have become more frequent, the "bottle-throwing ceremony" has also spread as a maritime tradition in China, but unlike abroad, the person throwing the bottle in China is usually a man who has a direct relationship with the ship.

The launching of a Chinese ship includes a step similar to the "bottle-throwing ceremony" -- cutting the cable. In the earliest days, a representative of the shipbuilders, a model worker, held an axe and chopped the main cable that held the platform to the new ship, but the danger of chopping the cable evolved into the symbolic chopping of a rope tied between the platform and the new ship.

Pictured at the launching ceremony of the 110,000-ton domestic tanker Kaida in 2008, General Manager Huang Shaojie of China Merchants Lines lifted his axe to cut the cable

However, many of the above are just some legends, and the real meaning of the "bottle-throwing ceremony" can be traced back to the 17th century in Europe. Europe in the 17th century. 1610, the world's first three-deck "Royal Prince" warship launching, the Prince of Wales, who presided over the launching ceremony in accordance with the customary pick up the cup of gold wine to symbolize a mouthful of wine, and then the rest of the wine sprinkled on the ship and the trend of the gold cup thrown off the ship, who picked up the cup of gold wine who will be awarded a good luck. good luck. In the era of mercantilism, located in the British Isles, Britain needs more ships to maintain their own maritime trade, so the British made more and more ships, was thrown away more and more gin cups. Such a huge loss, for has long replaced Spain to become the "maritime supremacy" of the United Kingdom is not enough to make ends meet, even later in the world to pillage as the "Sunset Empire" can not afford such a shocking "loss". loss". So by the end of the 17th century, this kind of behavior in the United Kingdom was called to a halt, instead of the way is "throwing the bottle ceremony", the bottle is also from the precious metal into a relatively inexpensive glass.

But at the beginning of the "bottle-throwing ceremony," the bottles were not always filled with champagne. For example, in the U.S. Navy served more than two hundred years of the "Constitution" in that year, when the launching of the ship, smashed to the bow of the ship is a bottle of white wine; and even some special period, the Americans in the launching ceremony of the new ship or even bottles with jam for the new ship to hold a "bottle-throwing ceremony "

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In 1797, the "Constitution" launched to the bow of the ship is a bottle of Madeira white wine

There are bottles of wine to celebrate, naturally, there is also a bad luck. For example, the Soviet K-19 submarine was launched with a bottle of wine that bounced back intact. After that, the submarine's service career can be said to have had a rough time (the U.S. movie "K-19: Widowmaker," released in 2001, was based on one of the K-19's reactor accidents). ...... In addition to this, in December 2007, Britain's Chunard Steamship Co. invited Prince Charles' second wife, Camilla, to participate in the "Queen Victoria" ceremony. "The launching ceremony of the passenger ship Queen Victoria. During the "bottle toss", the champagne bottle was not broken. Coincidentally, the Queen Victoria had an outbreak on its maiden voyage ...... However, coincidences are just coincidences, and not all ships that don't break their champagne are out of luck. For example, on March 5, 2016, the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine SSN-787 "Washington" in the day of the launching ceremony, was the same bottle of champagne smashed twice before completing the "bottle ceremony".