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Okay, so as Lou said, my name is Admiral Daryl Caudle, and for those of you who are unsure of what I do as the U-S Fleet Forces Commander, across my many hats – I have the incredible privilege of being charged with organizing, training, and equipping a force of over 125,000 Sailors and Civilians with hundreds of ships, submarines, and aircraft and support facilities across the U-S Atlantic Fleet that can ultimately prevail in a high-end conflict while meeting the objectives of our Combatant Commanders. This is a tremendous responsibility but an even larger honor to lead our finest warriors at this level.
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In short, we protect America and our homeland from attack and go forward to defend our interests around the world – and if needed – win decisively on terms favorable to the United States!
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Ladies and Gentlemen, that is a force of fire and fury that can be only delivered by the incomparable Navy team, delivered at our timing and tempo, delivered anywhere in the world. It’s a force where LT Kennedy’s personal legacy began as he commanded P-T Boats in the Pacific, which shaped and honed his values, his philosophy, his world view, and certainly his ethos.
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He served with honor and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for the heroism he displayed when he rescued survivors from his sunken P-T Boat.
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As President, when faced with global predicaments during the Cold War, President Kennedy leverage his experience and used naval superiority and sea power to deter aggression and create stability across the globe against peer competitors as well.
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Specifically, I would like to highlight the naval blockade, or “quarantine” as President Kenney called it, which prevented the Soviet Union from bringing offensive weaponry into Cuba.
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During a speech given on the USS KITTY HAWK, which is the same class of ship as the original J-F-K (C-V-67), President Kennedy recalled the following: “Events of October 1962 indicated, as they had all through history, that control of the sea means security. Control of the seas can mean peace. The United States must control the seas if it is to protect your security and those countries which stretch thousands of miles away that look to you on this ship and the sister ships of the United States Navy."
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Mark Twain said it best – “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
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For nearly 249 years – your Navy has served to protect America from attack, preserve our strategic interests around the world, and to promote our nation’s prosperity. For decades now, we have enjoyed freedom of maneuver around the world and have supported our land and air forces securely from the sea.
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We’re in a different world today. The sea has once again emerged as the primary focal point for peer competition, and remains vulnerable to those growing powers that can pack a punch – and the stakes have never been higher.
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We live in an increasingly complex global security environment, characterized by overt challenges to the free and open international order and the re-emergence of long-term, strategic competition between nations.
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China and Russia are our two great strategic competitors, with Iran, North Korea, and violent extremists also challenging the international order. This crowd knows this more than any other.
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The need for strategic deterrence … integrated deterrence, both at home and overseas, remains one of my highest priorities as the Fleet Forces Commander. Our adversaries are modernizing at speeds akin to the Germans and Japanese during the Interwar period – both in the physical and technological sense, as well as evolving kinetic and non-kinetic means of attack that can be conducted at increasingly greater ranges with deadly accuracy with little to no notice.
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Winning this competition means achieving overmatch of our adversaries. That necessitates having a fleet of technologically advanced warships with the readiness and lethal capabilities to answer our nation’s call at a moment’s notice. Because as United States Strategist George Kennan once said, “You have no idea how much it contributes to the general politeness and pleasantness of diplomacy when you have a little quiet armed force in the background.”
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CVN-79 will be that armed force well into the 2070s.
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There is no ship in any Navy that can measure up to an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Period. The USS JOHN F KENNEDY will join our 11 carriers in the Fleet as the most survivable, most mobile, and most versatile airfield in the world. They provide long-range, persistent sea control in far-away waters, projecting power and organic sensing in highly contested areas.
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Once you add the striking force of the Carrier Air Wing with CRUDES escorts, we become unstoppable. That’s why the first question from all Presidents when crisis breaks out is “Where’s the nearest carrier?”
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They provide our Combatant Commanders with flexible response options across the full spectrum of conflict, from stabilizing responses to gray zone action to overwhelming lethality in modern, high-end conflict.
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Today, we are exceptionally cognizant that this statement still reigns true. United States warships “standing the watch” in the Red Sea are “in the fight” supporting our partners and freedom of the high seas on a daily basis from adversaries and other proxy organizations that cause disruptions and seek to de-stabilize regions that contain our strategic waterways.
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But even more important, more consequential, and certainly more irreplicable is that all of the metal and lethality of our ships and aircraft is brought to life by you, the U-S Sailors donning the cloth of our nation who courageously and masterfully operate our extraordinary technology – truly personifying what is ‘best’ about our country – especially during a time wrought with political pandering, domestic in-fighting, and unnecessary polarization.
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Despite that, we remain resolute because we are ALL Americans! Our objectives will be achieved, because this awe-inspiring team will continue to train to the highest standards and continuously break barriers to advance our warfighting edge, so it is known around the world – just as the people of Hampton Roads are known for their toughness, their fortitude, and their resolve – that your Navy and its Sailors own the maritime environment from the seabed to space – hands down, no exception.
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Builders of the U-S-S JOHN F. KENNEDY, upon commissioning of this great symbol of naval power, will join “the fight.” Our expectations are high. But so are our standards.
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Like the namesake of this powerful warship, Newport News Shipbuilding has a rich history and has been an integral part of the United States Navy since the 1930s. From building the first and only carrier of its class, U-S-S Ranger (CV-4), to laying the keels of the Gerald R. Ford class, Newport News Shipbuilding has been essential to the building and sustaining our world-class Navy.
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This ship will build on the legacy of their service, and it will continue to carry the message of American strength for decades to come. As I bring my remarks to close, I want to thank every individual that contributed to the delivery of the U-S-S JOHN F KENNEDY, from the planners, designers, equippers, builders, master craftsmen, logisticians, and yes, the Plank Owners.
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CAPT Colin Day (CO) and CAPT Douglas Lagenberg (P-CO), you will lead this crew on the most advanced warfighting vessel in the US Navy’s history. Think about that for a minute. You’ve done great work, Colin, and I know Doug will continue to provide the leadership to tackle all future challenges, get her Commissioned, and get her out to sea!
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Finally, to the men and women of the crew. It was your tenacity and grit that enabled you to successfully complete the challenging pre-commissioning certifications to-date. Keep the pressure on and you will forever proudly look back on the day as a Plank Owner of the Navy’s newest, most powerful warship.
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We are honored by your dedicated and relentless efforts. And though Ambassador Caroline Kennedy couldn’t be here tonight, when I met with her in Australia last month, she told me how proud she was to again sponsor U-S-S JOHN F KENNEDY. She beamed with the pride you only see in a parent. She loves this ship and the legacy it represents.
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All of these accolades, amongst countless others, are a testament to each and every person’s individual effort – however, like I said when I started, none of them would be possible without the unyielding devotion of the teamwork by everyone in this room.
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So truthfully, as my remarks come full-circle, I don’t care what you hear about ‘Russia this or China that’ – our warfighters are feared – and rightly so. While our competitors can build their ships, tanks and aircraft and post pictures on social media all they want – our weapons systems are not just window dressing, they’re not just talking points – our weapons systems, created by the best industrial base and manned by our battle-hardened warfighters, are absolutely ready to take the fight to any adversary – and WIN! Your Navy is more powerful today than ever before and that’s because of you – our Sailors, our Industrial Base, and our family support system!
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I truly can’t say it enough – as it was then, it is now – your Navy remains the most lethal, capable, and feared combat force in the world – and for good reason. What we bring to bear cannot be replicated by anyone, anywhere.
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I know for a fact, and it is indisputable, that the future of the Fleet is on the right course – and that is because of what you and your families do every day.