For the christening of fire engines, see Wetdown

Wetdown

A wetdown is a ritual celebrated by many volunteer fire departments in the United States in which squads of firefighters from neighboring towns ritualistically commission a new fire apparatus by anointing it with water sprayed from the visitors' firefighting equipment.- External links :* Handleman,...

.

Wetting-down is a raucous ceremony for newly promoted officers observed in the U.S.

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 and British

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Navies

Navy

A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...

, and the U.S. Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

. The U.S. Marines

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps

NOAA Corps

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps is one of seven federal uniformed services of the United States, which operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , a scientific agency within the Department of Commerce...

, and U.S. Public Health Service officers also participate in this custom as homage to their naval heritage. Formerly, it involved tossing the new officer into the sea, hence the name.

Procedure

The wetting-down celebration is always paid for and hosted by the newly promoted officer, who invites his or her friends, which usually includes several officers of the same rank at which he or she has most recently served.

Normally the party occurs at a bar or pub frequented by officers. The location of the party is a big clue as to the form of the ceremony: when the party occurs in a dockside bar, the officer's friends are expected to (carefully) throw him or her into the sea. If the location is a park many miles inland from an otherwise available ocean, then the officer has very likely elected to dispense with the "wet" part of the party.

The "wet" part of the wetting-down is at the new officer's option, and must always be directly confirmed with the new officer before the party. His or her jocular friends should under no circumstances be relied on for this important point of protocol

Etiquette

Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...

. Although permission is always required, the new officer is expected to react more or less as if it were a surprise.

Being located in a bar, there is typically a great deal of drinking of alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

. There must always be at least one ceremonial toast. Friends present several rowdy speeches expressing their appreciation of the new officer's good comradeship and copious faults. Often one of the speeches describes an embarrassing event in the new officer's career which occurred under the old rank, although this latter variety of speech is sometimes discouraged in order to avoid providing evidence pertinent to a disciplinary hearing.

The final speech must always be entirely complimentary. Ideally, there should be no dry eyes after the final speech, particularly if the speaker is the new officer's father. During the final speech it is considered honourable and complimentary to discreetly wipe one's eyes, if needed.

In its most exuberant (and most traditional) form, the wetting-down ceremony ends with the former peers of the new officer as a group carrying him or her out to the ocean, and tossing him or her in. Having previously approved, the new officer is expected to cheerfully submit.

Good friends have plenty of dry towels available. Wise officers change into old clothes before going to their wetting-down celebration, although in its highest form, the new officer wears a dress uniform

Dress uniform

Dress uniform , is the most formal military uniform, typically worn at ceremonies, official receptions, and other special occasions; with order insignias and full size medals...

 into the sea.

It is never acceptable to use any beverage containing alcohol for dousing the newly promoted officer. This follows from seamen's traditional reverence for alcohol, which is a carefully used commodity when at sea, if it is available at all. Hence, at a wetting down, unlike some modern victory celebrations, neither beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

 nor champagne are ever poured on anyone's head.

Improvisations

A wetting-down party is informal and improvisations on the ceremony are the rule, not the exception.

The most common improvisation is to dispense with the seawater, or any kind of water whatsoever for that matter. This is an especially popular change among new officers.

The senior officer present may make the final speech, or if present, the commanding officer who made the promotion can make the final speech. Sometimes the final speech is presented by the new officer's father, especially if he has served in a Navy, although for particularly exuberant wetting-down parties, parents and senior officers are not usually invited and the honor falls to one of the new officer's close friends.

Occasionally a scuba diver hides under the pier to briefly grab the new officer from below, and more seriously to act as a lifeguard.

If the ocean is unavailable or fatally cold, a bucket of almost warm seawater may be substituted. For inland ceremonies, a bucket of seawater is sometimes brought to the party from a great distance by the new officer's friends who arrive from a seaside posting. In the case of a bucket, it is considered high form if at least one conspicuously live ocean-dwelling fish is in the seawater.

If no bucket is available, a glassful of clean icewater is sometimes substituted. This is the typical minimum "wet" part of a wetting-down.

Meaning

Throwing a fellow officer into the ocean symbolically represents the new officer's departure from the friends with whom he or she formerly shared rank.

At a time when the new officer is more or less between ranks, wetting-down represents a last opportunity for former equals in rank to treat a newly superior officer with disrespect and with open affection.

Being doused combines a very proud moment in a person's life with a lesson in humility

Humility

Humility is the quality of being modest, and respectful. Humility, in various interpretations, is widely seen as a virtue in many religious and philosophical traditions, being connected with notions of transcendent unity with the universe or the divine, and of egolessness.-Term:The term "humility"...

. It also makes the event easy to remember.

History

In most Navies, officers wear stripes on the cuff

United States Navy officer rank insignia

In the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade.-Rank categories:In the U.S. Navy, pay grades for officers are:...

 of their uniform jacket. Upon promotion, a new stripe would be added to the cuff. The new, clean stripe would often stand out from the older, more weathered stripes. "Wetting down" was often an attempt to get the new stripe to match the older stripes so the promotion would not look as recent. Today, an officer will usually replace all of the stripes upon each promotion in an attempt to maintain a more professional uniform appearance.

Another version of this lore is that newly promoted officers would toss their new rank insignia

United States Navy officer rank insignia

In the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade.-Rank categories:In the U.S. Navy, pay grades for officers are:...

(earlier, a fresh gold braid) at their wetting down event into a glass of sea water in order to give it a worn patina that would belie the recency of the promotion. This of course can be done today, with the pint glass and new rank insignia being placed on display at the center of the bar.