The Muon Spectrometer of the ATLAS detector at the LHC is designed to provide high quality stand-alone muon identification, momentum measurement and trigger capabilities with high pseudorapidity coverage. Precision tracking at the inner-most station in the high pseudorapidity regions, 2.0 ≪ |η| ≪ 2:7, is performed by 16 four-layered Cathode Strip Chambers on each end-cap. These are multi-wire proportional chambers with segmented cathodes providing excellent spatial resolution and high counting rate capability. The second cathode of each layer is coarsely segmented, providing the transverse coordinate. The detector level performance of the system is presented. The installation and commissioning effort for the Cathode Strip Chambers is described. Finally, the in situ performance is briefly discussed.