By JACK KESTNER
Ledger-Star Military Writer

NORFOLK-The gasoline crisis in Tidewater has had an impact even on a ship commissioning.

Capt. Floyd H. Miller Jr., commanding officer of the nuclear-powered guided missile frigate California that was placed in commission today, said he received out-of town telephone calls all day Friday from invited guests who said they'd like to come "but we've heard about your service stations closing for the weekend."

Even so, there was an impressive array of guests, both local and from the Washington area, as the first nuclear-powered surface ship to join the fleet since 1967 was placed in commission.

Principal speaker for the ceremony, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs James E. Johnson, described the ship as "a symbol of strength and courage," but also inserted what he interpreted as a political note.

"Once we have elected our leaders, we also owe it to ourselves and to our country to give our wholehearted support to all of our country's officials," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Norfolk Naval Station ceremony.

"If we fail to do this, our country will be like a ship without a captain, and a ship without a captain would be a national as well as a nautical tragedy," he said.

The 10,000-ton 596-foot multi-purpose ship with its officers and men is the sixth to be named for the western state, the most notable being the battleship California, sunk at Pearl Harbor.

That battlewagon had a pet bear as a mascot called "Prunes" after the ship's somewhat snide nickname, "The Prune Barge." Prunes are one of California's farm products.

The California Redwood Association has presented her modern counterpart with a life size carved redwood replica with the nameplate "Prunes II"-a prize item of the wardroom.

Today's California has both Tartar Missile launchers and five-ince 54 rapid fire unmanned gun mounts both fore and aft-the fist ship equipped with the latter.

After fitting out at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard the California will go to the Caribbean for a seven-week shakedown before returning to Norfolk for post shakedown availability-making a total time of approximately one year in Tidewater before going to her permanent home port of San Diego.