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RMKS/1.  Earlier this week I announced our decision to name the next two 
Virginia-class submarines, SSN-802 and SSN-803, after the great states of 
Oklahoma and Arizona, respectively.  These two ship names have special 
meaning for us as a nation, and particularly for those of us with any 
connection to the U.S. Naval Service.  The previous USS OKLAHOMA (BB-37) and 
USS ARIZONA (BB-39) were tragically and memorably lost 78 years ago on 
December 7th during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Lost with those ships were 
over 1,606 Sailors and Marines  selfless patriots of the Greatest Generation 
who never had the opportunity to taste victory as our Navy and Marine Corps 
team and the nation did some four years later.  Their sacrifice should never 
be forgotten and these two new warships, our most modern and lethal, will set 
sail into unpredictable waters where we will count on them to maintain 
stability and peace.  In so doing they will honor those lost 78 years ago, 
along with the two states who have sent so many into service to defend our 
nation.
It is fitting that we name these ships in December as we close out one year 
in remembrance, and look forward to the possibilities of the next.  Just a 
few weeks after the previous USS ARIZONA and USS OKLAHOMA were lost at Pearl 
Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to the nation from Washington 
in late December, in a joint Christmas address with Prime Minister Winston 
Churchill.  The nation was shaken by the Pearl Harbor attacks and the advance 
of Nazism across Europe.  In the midst of this great uncertainty, the 
President sought to encourage the countrys unity and resolve:
"The year 1941 has brought upon our Nation a war of aggression by powers 
dominated by arrogant rulers whose selfish purpose is to destroy free 
institutions. They would thereby take from the freedom-loving peoples of the 
earth the hard-won liberties gained over many centuries.  The new year of
1942 calls for the courage and the resolution of old and young to help to win 
a world struggle in order that we may preserve all we hold dear.
We are confident in our devotion to country, in our love of freedom, in our 
inheritance of courage. But our strength, as the strength of all men 
everywhere, is of greater avail as God upholds us."
As we celebrate the holidays and close out 2019, President Roosevelts 
December prayer for national resolve in the coming year is just as relevant 
as it was 78 years ago.  We as a Navy and Marine Corps team must focus our 
collective confidence in the goodness of the nation we defend, and on our 
ability to defend it with vigilance and agility.  We must continue to be 
grateful for, and mindful of, our Sailors, Marines, and their families, who 
make sacrifices daily across the globe to keep the light of freedom bright.
We must honor them with how we approach our jobs and in what we do every day 
to make our Navy and Marine Corps the finest and most powerful in the world 
both today and into a very competitive and unpredictable future.
Thank you in advance for making a commitment to doing so in the coming year.
Your individual efforts, your passion, your creativity, your sacrifices, and
your patriotism matter.   Happy Holidays.  Happy New Year.  Go Navy!  And of
course, as always, Beat Army!

2.  Released by the Honorable Thomas B. Modly, Acting Secretary of the 
Navy.//

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