Jacksonville, Fla. – In one of the most time-honored traditions of an enlisted Sailor’s career, USS ST. Louis (LCS-19) Blue held a chief petty officer (CPO) pinning ceremony, aboard the USS Orleck (DD-886) Museum in Jacksonville, Florida, Oct. 21, 2022.

After several weeks of training and mentorship, two Sailors assigned to USS St. Louis (LCS 19) Blue crew donned a pair of gold-fouled anchors for the first time and became chief petty officers. The pinning ceremony marked the culmination of six weeks of indoctrination and initiation into one of the most exclusive professional fellowships in the Navy – the Chiefs Mess. During initiation, dubbed the “Chiefs Season”, First Class Petty Officers selected for chief are trained, mentored, and tested in leadership, core values, and an array of other professional and personal development areas before being accepted into the Chiefs Mess.

“It was the biggest self-evaluation I endured in my entire Navy career,” said Chief Electronics Technician Matthew Gusse, a newly tried, tested and accepted chief in the St. Louis Blue Chiefs Mess. “The most valuable lesson I learned was humility, and being selected is a great honor and a humbling experience.

The pinning ceremony, set with a backdrop of a highly decorated naval vessel, adorned with the Navy’s finest décor, was an inspirational setting for a momentous days in these new chiefs careers.

“Being selected [by the St. Louis Blue Chiefs Mess] means the world to me,” said Chief Intelligence Technician Tyler Averett, one of the newly pinned chiefs. “I have been blessed with great leadership and Sailors who allowed me to work with and lead them. Being accepted means I have the trust of the Mess, and that is everything to me. I hope to continue that trust with the Mess and my crew.”

More than 15 St. Louis Blue chiefs, led by the command senior chief, worked tirelessly preparing the recently selected chiefs for their new roles in the Navy’s mission. Still, the chiefs season is a mere glimpse into the culture, traditions and expectations of a Navy chief and what is expected of those who wear the anchors; the rest is up to the bearer.

“We used the last six weeks to help these new chiefs understand the weight of the anchors they must now personify every day,” said Command Senior Chief Bryon Vosburg. “It can be a heavy burden, but it’s something their peers have seen in them and expect from them each day. They must continue setting the highest standards, be the example for their junior Sailors, and decide which kind of chief, leader and mentor they’re going to be. They have so much to give, and I expect them to pay it forward to the next generation of Sailors.”

The history and traditions of the chief petty officer date back to 1893 and, each year, chiefs across the Navy work to uphold and instill the principles and observances the gold-fouled anchors represent.

The USS Orleck is the most decorated U.S. Navy warship post-World War II. The Orleck is named after Lt. Joseph Orleck, who went missing in action in 1943 during an attack in the Gulf of Salerno. Commissioned on Sept, 15, 1945, the ship served in the Cold War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. During the Korean War, she began what became known as the “Train Buster Club” after successfully eliminating two military transport trains, first destroying the tracks ahead of and behind the trains and then the trains themselves. After 37 years of service, the USS Orleck was decommissioned on Oct. 1, 1982. After 12 years of work, the Orleck was moved to Jacksonville and is now the centerpiece of the Jacksonville Naval Musuem.

St. Louis is the 22nd LCS in the Navy, and the tenth of the Freedom-variant. It is the seventh ship to bear the name. The first St. Louis, a sloop of war, was launched in 1828. LCS is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation. It is designed to defeat asymmetric “anti-access” threats and is capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control, and deterrence.