There were officially 23,012 people on hand on August 28, 1939 at the New York Naval Shipyard when Miss Elinor Carlyle Gudger broke a bottle of champaign on the bows of the cruiser Helena CL-50 and sent her down the ways. The navy was in a hurry to start new ships because of the current situation in the world and Helena was launched four months early to clear the slipway for the next construction. Helena was therefore launched in a less complete state than she should have been. After the champaign was broken the ship failed to move, thirty seconds later at 11:12 a.m. the Helena, aided by 11,000 lbs. of grease, slid gracefully into the water. USS Helena CL-50 was lost at the Battle of Kula Gulf on July 6, 1943, almost 200 crewmen were lost in her.