The 31st Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson held an all-hands call with Sailors from the Groton-area submarine community in Dealey Theater onboard Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, July 7.

Richardson opened the all-hands call by praising those in the audience, "This is the most talented Navy we have ever had. You guys max out the test scores, and those scores keep going up."

Richardson thanked the audience for their dedication and sacrifice to the Navy through 15 years of war by saying, "I start every day thinking about you guys. I start every day thinking about your commitment...I start my day and every decision I make trying to honor that commitment."

During his introduction Richardson talked about the missions that the Navy is facing today, which include increased competition from other nations in all domains, increased combat activities, terrorism, maintaining freedom of navigation, tension on the Korean peninsula and new tactics and technology from adversaries. The CNO also stressed the importance of multi-national exercises with NATO and partner nations, as well as humanitarian and diplomatic missions.

"There's more to being a Sailor than just being a warfighter," he said.

Richardson reserved the majority of the time to talk with Sailors and answer questions, which included such wide-ranging topics as supporting a larger fleet, ratings modernization, a revised physical fitness assessment, an updated performance evaluation system, and the Navy's role in future operations regarding space.

Richardson stressed the importance of the Sailors' role in the Navy's current and future success.

"Anywhere you go around the world it's pretty competitive out there. We've got to be ready to win that competition. You've got to be ready to win that competition," said Richardson. "We need you to ready to do that and it's got my ultimate respect."

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