Thank you, Commander Karlo and good morning everyone!

It is an absolute pleasure to be here with you in beautiful Pensacola here on the Emerald Coast a city with proud Navy heritage a city that helped bring Naval aviation to life and has supported our Sailors for just shy of two hundred years. Mayor Reeves, please accept my heartfelt thanks for this city’s continued support of our Navy team and especially for its hospitality this week.  

Honorable Gates, Secretary Del Toro, General Mahoney, state and local leaders, members of the Commissioning Committee, members of the McCool family, ladies and gentlemen, active and reserve Sailors and Marines, Navy Civilians, 400 NJROTC and Sea Cadets and most importantly the crew and builders of this ship today is a great Navy day!

As General Mahoney just said, today we get to commission the Navy’s newest San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock our last LPD Flight I and bridge to our future LPD Flight II LPD-29, the USS Richard M. McCool, Jr.

In just a few minutes, McCool will officially enter our Navy and join the Fleet with 12 of her sister ships.

The LPD plays an essential role for our Blue-Green team as the workhorse of our Amphibious Fleet. And soon McCool will set sail and begin embarking, transporting, and landing elements of our Navy-Marine Corps team.

Executing missions like amphibious assault, special operations, and expeditionary warfare using the latest technology which together bring a quantum leap in capability to the Amphibious Ready Group and to the Joint Force.

The commissioning of this warship puts another player with more capability on the field in America’s Warfighting Navy providing more options to our Nation’s leaders to deter and, if necessary, fight and win our Nation’s wars in this decade and beyond.

As you’ve all seen on the news the events of this past year and the actions taken by your Navy-Marine Corps team whether in the Indo-Pacific, in the Mediterranean, in the Red Sea, and beyond underscore the enduring importance of this ship and more broadly American Naval power.

With an average of 110 ships and 70,000 Sailors and Marines deployed at sea on any given day the Navy-Marine Corps team is executing our mission around the world and around the clock, delivering power for peace, defending our national security interests and ensuring our security and prosperity every single day.  

I am so proud of the amazing roster of players in America’s Warfighting Navy-a roster that the McCool is about to join.

There is no other Navy-Marine Corps team that operates at this scale. No other Navy in the world can train, deploy sustain such a lethal, globally deployed, and combat credible force able to synchronize effects in every single domain.

And, so I’d like to say thank you to those gathered here today and those you represent for working together to put this warship into our Fleet and drive forward with one purpose: to deliver the Navy the Nation needs.

I know CAPT Baker, CDR Karlo, CMC Gonzalez, and the crew of Richard M. McCool Jr. are ready to take the watch, bring this ship to life, and live up to the gallantry, sacrifice, and legacy of its namesake.

We’re so happy to have CAPT McCool’s granddaughter and sponsor of the McCool … Shana (Shawn-aaa) … and his great-grandchildren here with us today.  This legacy lives on in you, and in this powerful warship.

To the crew of the Richard M. McCool Jr., you are the cornerstone of our naval power. Your ship is among the best in the world, with all the latest technology, but I know that it can go nowhere and do nothing without you.

I ask that you to be good stewards of this warship like it’s your first car because your fingerprints will forever be etched in this ship’s history.

Always remember to live up to your motto to “fight as a unit, not as individuals” because teamwork on this ship, on the blue-green team, and across the Joint warfighting ecosystem is critical to our every success. I look forward to seeing all you will accomplish together and to seeing you out in the Fleet.

Let me again say thank you to the crew of the Richard M. McCool Jr. and thank you to our active and reserve Sailors, Marines, and civilians for your service and sacrifice. You make a difference every single day.

Please extend my thanks to your families and support networks for their service and sacrifice as well and for they enable us to accomplish our mission, every day.  It now gives me great pleasure to welcome Secretary Del Toro the 78th Secretary of the Navy to offer today’s principal address.