A slight deviation from the properly messaged, street-legal license plates, this custom tag celebrates a great naval tradition. Known as one of the US Navy's finest rituals is the Shellback, an initiation for first-timers crossing the Earth's equator. More formally, the "line-crossing ceremony," where Pollywogs become Shellbacks, pays tribute to King Neptune, the God of the Sea. Some element of pain, I've been informed, is involved. The owner of this license plate, seen in Murfreesboro, TN, served aboard the USS Mahlon S. Tisdale, named for Vice Admiral Mahlon Street Tisdale. It was the nineteenth ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates. Aboard were 15 officers and 190 enlisted personnel. The ship, commissioned from 1982 to 1996, displaced 4100 tons, was 453 feet in length, and had a range of 5000 nautical miles. Of note, it had Shellback initiations in 1986 (twice), 1991 and 1993 in the Pacific, and in 1987 in the Indian Ocean.