Good evening, everyone! Wow – what a fantastic video highlighting out Navy in action!

It is an honor to be here with such a distinguished group of leaders, members of Congress, Industry partners, Department of the Navy civilians, Flag and General Officers, MCPONs lots of MCPONs, veterans, and our servicemen and women – here to celebrate our Navy – and most importantly, our people – tonight.

Let me start by saying thank you very much to Admiral John Nowell and to the Navy Memorial team for putting together this spectacular event year after year. And thank you for bringing to life our Navy story and the stories of all our Sailors and all the people in the sea services day in and day out at the Navy Memorial, which is the home to one of the largest maps in the world, the “Granite Sea,” where you already heard that I danced with many veterans from the Armed Forces Retirement Home, and I had a really good time thanks to them and the Navy Band.

If you haven’t seen the “Granite Sea” or been to the Navy Memorial, I encourage you to do so. The Granite Sea,” it’s a map and it really show the sheer size, the expansiveness and the interconnectedness of the world’s oceans. And the sheer responsibility we have to keep them free and open for all.

Tonight, we are here to celebrate the contributions of Sailors, past and present and let me say right upfront there is a lot to celebrate.  After visiting our Navy team around the world and then just watching them again in that video I am filled with pride. I could not be more proud of our active and Reserve Sailors, our civilians, our Navy – Marine Corps team that is out there executing our Navy’s mission every single day – operating far forward, from seabed to space to deter aggression, to promote our Nation’s prosperity and security, and provide options to our Nation’s decision makers.

So, tonight, it is both an honor and a privilege for me to be here to recognize the bold and daring actions of our Sailors the ones you just saw in the video from Carrier Strike Group TWO. There are Sailors from – the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower the aircraft carrier – Carrier Air Wing 3 and its nine squadrons. We have The Philippine Sea a guided missile cruiser. Destroyers from Destroyer Squadron Twenty Two – the Gravely,  the Mason, the Laboon, and USS Carney. USS Florida, a guided missile submarine. All joined by a full complement of logistics ships run by our amazing civilian mariners – USNS Supply, Kanawha, and Alan Shepard – who did their part to deliver fuel, supplies, munitions, other goods, and of course mail to sustain our people and our Fleet at sea. How about a big round of applause for all those Sailors out there.  

Every one of them played a critical role in what I like to call a “Deployment of Firsts”: The first shoot down of an anti-ship ballistic missile; the first SM-6 engagement. the first air-to-air engagement of a hostile Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; and, the first employment of a hellfire against naval surface threats in combat.

And while I could go on and on and on about their contested straits transits and the number of threats intercepted, but I instead want to tell you about the story of this amazing team as I saw it.

For nine months our incredible Sailors prevailed operating inside an adversary Weapons Engagement Zone with an intensity not seen since WWII. They were saving lives, preventing the escalation of conflict, escorting merchants, ensuring the free flow of commerce, defending and working alongside our Allies and partners, and standing up for the values that we all hold so dear.

For nine months, they demonstrated to the American people that naval power is – and will continue to be – an essential element of our nation’s security.

And for nine months, these Sailors proved to our adversaries that we are truly the world’s preeminent fighting force and that no other Navy can train, deploy and sustain such a lethal, combat force at the scale and the tempo that we do. 

These Sailors are truly America’s Warfighting Navy.

And again, I could not be more excited to recognize some of those courageous IKE Strike Group Sailors here with us tonight teammates please stand. Please join me in giving them a round of applause.

The story of the IKE Strike Group and the story of these warfighters is one of many stories across America’s Warfighting Navy it’s a Navy that works around the globe and around the clock. And tonight, thousands more of our Navy Sailors, our Marines, our Coast Guardsmen and actually all of our servicepeople are operating far forward at risk in multiple weapons engagement zones around the world.

From the Eastern Mediterranean to the Indo-Pacific, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and everywhere in between our Sailors are standing the watch in every domain ready to preserve the peace, to respond in crisis, and if necessary, win decisively in war. 

So, as we recognize the outstanding achievements of these Sailors here tonight, of our Lone Sailor Award recipients I ask that we also take a moment to reflect on all of our Sailors, our Marines, our service members, and their families. They serve everyday with Honor, Courage, and Commitment and it is because of their selfless service to our Nation that we can be here tonight to enjoy this wonderful evening.

Thank you very much.