Good afternoon, everyone. It’s great to be back in San Diego.

Distinguished guests, industry partners, civilians, Sailors, and the entire Southwest Regional Maintenance Center team – thank you for being here today.

It is an honor to join you for the reestablishment of Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity San Diego.

Today is about far more than cutting a ribbon. It’s about restoring and modernizing a critical warfighting capability that directly contributes to combat readiness, combat endurance, and combat effectiveness across our Fleet.

For generations, the maintenance community has been part of San Diego’s naval identity – long before Naval Base San Diego became one of our nation’s largest Fleet concentrations.

And for decades, the Sailors and civilians here sustained combat power for the Pacific Fleet and ensured our ships could remain ready for operations around the world.

The original SIMA San Diego stood as an important part of that legacy.

And as we look ahead, that legacy becomes even more important. The strategic environment demands a Fleet that can generate readiness faster, recover from damage faster, and return combat power to commanders faster than any potential adversary.

Today, we are building on that foundation for a new era of maritime competition.

The original SIMA motto was “Productivity, Quality, and Credibility.” More than fifty years later, those principles remain just as relevant because combat readiness depends on all three.

That motto still matters because readiness still matters. Ships do not stay in the fight without skilled maintainers, artisans, and engineers.

They do not sustain combat operations without Sailors who can diagnose casualties, repair systems, restore capability, and solve problems under pressure.

That is why this ribbon cutting matters. Because SIMA is not simply a maintenance activity. It’s a warfighting capability that generates combat power for the Fleet.

In our Fighting Instructions, we talk about the Foundry, the Fleet, and the Fight. Those are not separate ideas. They are a continuum. The Foundry generates combat power. The Fleet delivers combat power. And the Fight determines whether that combat power achieves operational effects.

SIMA San Diego is the Foundry in action. This is where we invest in people, infrastructure, and materiel to generate the combat power our Fleet requires.

This is where we forge technical competence, operational discipline, and maintenance mastery in the Sailors who will keep our Fleet forward, ready, and lethal.

This facility will expose Sailors to advanced ship repair, additive manufacturing, CAD/CAM technologies, AI-enabled diagnostics, workflow monitoring systems, and robotic capabilities that represent the future of naval sustainment and readiness generation.

But leveraging these advances in technology to increase our throughput is not our sole end-state.

Our end-state is not technology for technology’s sake. Our end-state is in our ability to forge adaptive and innovative Sailors – Sailors who are empowered to keep their ships steaming out at sea so they can fight at sea when our Nation calls.

Because the reality is this: In the next fight, we cannot assume there will be a safe harbor, a contractor waiting on the pier, or the luxury of time.

We need crews capable of diagnosing problems, restoring systems, adapting to damage, and sustaining combat power under pressure and under attack.

SIMA directly supports that requirement.

The Navy’s differentiated value is our ability to provide sovereign combat power anywhere in the world without relying on access, basing, or host-nation permission. That capability depends upon readiness.

SIMA helps make that differentiated value possible.

It strengthens surge readiness by giving ships access to Sailors trained to troubleshoot and repair intermediate-level maintenance issues forward and afloat.

That increases operational endurance and reduces the need for lengthy maintenance delays away from the fight.

One of the most important evolutions in this new SIMA model is that we are moving beyond narrow, stove-piped maintenance training.

The Fleet today demands technically versatile Sailors who can sense problems, assess conditions, synthesize solutions, and take action in real time.

This initiative creates a more holistic developmental framework that prepares Sailors for the realities of modern sea duty and high-end maritime conflict.

It gives them hands-on experience, cross-functional exposure, and opportunities to work alongside experienced technicians solving real Fleet problems.

Another important capability being integrated here is Fleet Technical Assist support.

These subject matter experts will provide advanced troubleshooting support both onboard ships and remotely across the Fleet.

That capability matters because combat power is perishable. Every hour a critical system remains down is an hour an adversary gains advantage.

Every hour spent waiting for technical support is an hour a commander may be operating with fewer options and less combat capability than required.

SIMA will help create master-level technicians who can guide repairs, restore systems, and help commanders generate and sustain combat power wherever they operate.

As we build out the Golden Fleet Initiative – integrating manned platforms, unmanned systems, autonomy, and advanced weapons – our maintenance enterprise must evolve alongside it.

SIMA is part of that evolution.

And ultimately, this is about people.

It is about investing in Sailors and preparing them to meet the demands of the future fight.

The Sailors trained here in San Diego – alongside those training in Norfolk and Mayport – will become the backbone of the Navy’s next generation of maintenance professionals.

What they learn here will strengthen readiness across the Fleet for years to come.

Admiral McClane and the entire SWRMC team: thank you for your leadership in bringing this capability back to the waterfront.

To the Sailors, civilians, and industry partners who made this possible: thank you for what you do every day to sustain the Fleet.

And to the future Sailors of SIMA San Diego: never lose sight of the importance of your mission.

The work done here will keep ships operational, keep Sailors alive, restore combat capability, and ensure our Navy remains ready for whatever comes next.

The ribbon we cut today is symbolic. However, what matters is what happens tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Sailors will walk through these doors to learn, innovate, repair, and solve problems.

Tomorrow, ships will depend on their expertise.

Tomorrow, commanders will depend on the readiness they generate.

That is the true significance of SIMA San Diego.

It’s not simply a maintenance activity. It’s a warfighting capability. It’s our Foundry in action.

And it’s helping ensure our Fleet remains ready to fight and win whenever our Nation calls.

Thank you.