I don't even care how inefficient this seems to Western sensibilities ... I love this.
In many western countries many important traditional skills has been lost by the advent of technology. Either new materials and methods have been employed or many parts has been automated away or outsourced, therefore I love this instance from Japan where they rebuild a wooden temple once every 20 years so that many generations of artisans can work on the project together and pass on the knowledge:
“I saw one elderly person who probably has experienced these events three or four times saying to young people who perhaps participated in the event as children last time, ‘I will leave these duties to you next time,’”
When they closed it, they had no idea what to do, and the Canadian Navy had to call up the Royal Navy to figure out the protocol.
They didn't know either.
So they had to dig through their own records to figure out the right protocol.
And then we did it: a 'ship decomisioning ceremony' for a land-locked ship, which I don't think has been done in a very long time in the UK/Empire, and probably never in Canada.
Pretty much the entire W. Coast Canadian Navy 'paraded by' ship by ship, and a few other neat things. A sight to behold.
Someone, somewhere is keeping track of all that.
The interesting paradox is how from one perspective, it makes no sense, and yet from another, it makes perfect sense.
Interesting. Near Pune in India, there is a training institute of the Indian Navy called INS Shivaji (INS = Indian Naval Ship). I was surprised by the name when I first heard about it. Seems like the same custom as the one you mention.