Good morning everyone and welcome! Thank you, Sam … for that warm introduction.

Fellow Flag and General Officers,  some Allies and partners, faculty, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, active and reserve Sailors, Civilians, Midshipmen … it is really a pleasure to be here with all  of you today … I love being back in Annapolis and back on this historic campus … I’m really excited to recognize the winners of this year’s CNO Naval History Essay Contest.

I do want to say thanks to Sam and the Naval History and Heritage Command, Admiral Spicer from the United States Naval Institute … for both of your teams … I’m sure this was a pretty hard task to put together yet another exciting essay contest this year and pick some winners out of some amazing selections… This contest really encourages collaboration and education across all of our Sea Services … and it does (Sam as you said) further our understanding of how our past experiences can … and should … help inform our thinking, our strategy, and our decisions that we make today … and will also set us on a path in the future.

To all of our Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, Midshipmen, and other servicemembers here this morning … thank you very much for making the time to be here … for investing in your personal and professional development … and for serving our great Nation.   

What you all do every day makes a very big difference for our Navy and for our Nation, so thank you for being part of America’s Warfighting Navy.

And, when you get home today … please pass my thanks on to your family … for their own service and sacrifice. I know we in uniform could not do what we need to do … every day … without their encouragement and their support.

I am really excited  to be here with such a distinguished group of scholars, historians, and academics. There is no doubt that there are a lot of bright minds in the room today!

You know … warfighting excellence lies not just in technical mastery … but also in historical literacy … and I know personally just how much time, effort, and research you all have put into perfecting these submissions.

Because before I joined the Navy … I was a Journalism major at Northwestern. I was going to study bunch of different languages and go and become a journalist in the Middle East.

And although it’s been 39 years since then and my career path changed a bit … I still remember that if I wanted to tell a compelling story … I would have to be curious, I’d have to do a lot  of research, and ask good questions, but … most importantly … become a student of history. So that I always understood the context of where we were.

And let me tell you … the foundation that I received in those early years helped me navigate some of my own challenges … while I was a Junior Officer, Senior Officer, and even as the CNO.

Just a quick sea story, because sea stories are always good. I was on the Joint Staff and about to head to Sixth Fleet when Lt. General McKinsey gave me a book titled Course 095 to Eternity: The Saga of Destroyer Squadron 11. It tells the story of the worst peacetime disaster in Naval history, when seven battle-proven destroyers ran aground off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, killing 23 sailors in just five minutes of navigational disaster.

Reading that book before I took command of the fleet was pretty impactful. It really emphasized to me that what we do every day is dangerous and that nothing is truly routine. It reminded me to reflect on the lessons of history, shaping my approach to commanding my fleet and guiding my commanders to consider what they were doing every single day.

I know Sam touched on this a little, but the importance of history really cannot be underestimated. Once, David McCullough, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, said, “History is a guide to navigation in perilous times… History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” That really underpins what we’re discussing today through this essay contest.

Since taking office as Chief of Naval Operations, that quote has continued to resonate with me … because there is no doubt that we are at an inflection point in history.  

As you have all seen … the Navy-Marine Corps team has been in high demand this year..

From the Eastern Mediterranean to the Indo-Pacific, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and everywhere in between … our Sailors have been operating far forward, in every single domain … to preserve our Nation’s security and prosperity, to deter any would-be adversaries, and to always be ready to fight and win decisively, if called.

Its clear that in this increasingly dynamic world … we need to focus our efforts on creating Warfighting Advantage … and look to the lessons of our past to inform our decisions in the future … because those who don’t learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat it.

Which is exactly what this contest is driving towards …

• It encourages open lines of communication and dialogue within our communities.
• It brings in a lot of new ideas and shares opinions by thinking, acting, and operating differently.
• And … it challenges our naval communities to dig into the lessons from our naval history and discover how we can achieve overwhelming maritime advantage … in this decisive decade and beyond.

And let me tell you … each of our winners have really delivered … they are some exceptional pieces … on topics spanning from the First World War to the Shell Crisis … from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines to the geostrategic advantage of the Third Island Chain … and to the influence of mines and mine countermeasures during the Iran-Iraq War.

So, congratulations to all our winnders today! I could not be more proud of this team … this team of historians, scholars, junior officers, and midshipmen … this team of war warfighter thinkers … who put forward thought provoking submissions and helped advance our collective thinking on important topics to our Navy. I have no doubt that Admiral Richardson’s vision for this contest will be realized and these essays will underpin our strategic thinking in the years ahead.

So I know we are about to get into the awards presentation … and I know you’re are all excited to get up here … let me say thank you again for putting in the extra effort on top of what you are doing in your regular day jobs to write these essays, to inspire others and to bring the lessons of history to life everyday and into our daily thinking.

Congratulations again and BRAVO ZULU on a job exceptionally well done!

Thank you very much.