This 1968 'Domain of Neptunus Rex' certificate documents the U.S. Navy's traditional Equator-crossing ceremony, awarded to Robert T. Zart aboard USS Ticonderoga during a Vietnam War-era Pacific deployment. Sailors crossing the Equator for the first time — 'Pollywogs' — underwent an initiation ritual overseen by 'King Neptune' and his court, emerging afterward as honored 'Shellbacks.' The tradition, centuries old, remained a morale-building rite of passage throughout the Vietnam War era. Project: 218408