SECNAV Del Toro As-Written Remarks at the SSN 809 Ship Sponsor Naming Celebration

Good afternoon!

It is an honor to be with you here today in beautiful Kings Point!

Vice Admiral Nunan, thank you for that kind introduction and for your leadership in shaping the future of our maritime services.

Administrator Phillips, thank you for your service to our nation and your partnership on initiatives to restore the comprehensive maritime power of our Nation.

Rear Admiral Adams, thank you for your leadership of PEO Undersea Warfare Systems in a critical time for our Navy and our Nation.

To the Midshipmen, distinguished guests and visitors—welcome and thank you for joining us.

A number of these Midshipmen will be accepting active-duty commissions in the Navy and Marine Corps.

And I’m proud of those of you who will be joining our Navy Reserve as Strategic Sealift Officers for the next eight years.

So, it truly is a fine Navy Day here at Kings Point—where we not only produce the world’s best Merchant Mariners, but also naval and military officers who will contribute to our national defense in uniform.

 

Maritime Statecraft

 

There is no better place to celebrate the nexus between naval power and commercial maritime power than the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

One year ago yesterday, I made a call for a new Maritime Statecraft to guide the creation and application of our seapower.

Maritime Statecraft encompasses not only naval diplomacy and maritime competition, but a national, whole-of-government effort to build comprehensive maritime power, both commercial and naval.

Our Maritime Statecraft strategy invests in rebuilding the foundations of national seapower to ensure our continued maritime dominance over the near, medium, and long-term horizons.

At the core of this strategy is a recognition that no great naval power has long endured without also being a maritime power—a commercial shipping and shipbuilding power.

The emergence of the first comprehensive maritime competitor in a century underscores the need to renew the health of our nation’s broader seapower ecosystem.

I have met with leaders across this administration, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai about the need to support the creation of an internationally competitive U.S. maritime industry.

I have met with some of our country’s most esteemed labor leaders, including Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su and David McCall, the President of the United Steelworkers, to coordinate our efforts to expand good-paying blue collar, new collar, and seafaring jobs in shipping and shipbuilding.

And my team is working with partners in Congress, particularly Kings Points’ own Senator Mark Kelly, to reinvigorate existing unfunded authorities and craft new incentives to build and flag commercial ships in the United States.

Over the past few months, we worked alongside bipartisan, bicameral legislators to craft the SHIPS For America Act that was announced this week.

Because keeping the U.S. Navy strong begins by building a strong U.S. Merchant Marine.

 

Maritime Service

 

For the Midshipmen in the audience this afternoon: what you decide to do upon graduation matters.

To deliver the national maritime renaissance our country needs, we need you.

Yes, we need Navy and Marine Corps Officers, but we need more than that.

We need shipyard managers. We need naval architects. We need engineers.

And above all, we need Merchant Mariners—to crew both the U.S. flag merchant marine that we are working to grow, and our Navy’s crucial Military Sealift Command.

We will be celebrating Military Sealift Command’s 75th birthday on Tuesday. As Secretary of the Navy, I cannot emphasize enough the support MSC provides to our uniformed Sailors and Marines.

It is MSC’s vital work and logistical prowess which enables our Navy to project decisive power around the world in peace, crisis, and war.

When our Sailors and Marines take our warships into combat, our MSC Merchant Mariners are right there with them, bringing the “beans, bullets, and black oil” they need to stay on station until the fight is won.

Just one example—earlier this year, the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group returned from an unprecedented nine-month combat deployment in the Red Sea.

USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) deployed alongside the Ike and her ships and aircraft, enabling our Sailors and Marines to sustain demanding operations at sea.

Let me be clear—the Ike Strike Group could not have done their job—protecting innocent merchant shipping from the havoc and destruction wreaked by terrorist-launched missiles and drones—without our MSC Merchant Mariners.

And I was proud to award the Navy Unit Commendation to the crew of USNS Supply for their exemplary work.

Our Navy’s ability to quickly deploy overwhelming force anywhere on Earth and remain on station is a cornerstone of American power, and is possible only because of Military Sealift Command.

One of my near-term priorities as Secretary of the Navy is making the fleet we have more formidable with logistical innovations such as Rearm-at-Sea and Modular Refueling, which will expand our ability to sustain our ships on station and deter our adversaries.

Rear Admiral Henry E. Eccles, the Naval War College’s “Clausewitz of Logistics,” once said: “The essence of flexibility is in the mind of the commander; the substance of flexibility is in logistics.”

Today, the substance of our Navy’s flexibility is in the ships of Military Sealift Command and the intrepid Merchant Mariners who take them to sea.

We urgently need more merchant mariners to join MSC.

So, to the Midshipmen assembled here: we need you. MSC needs you.

If you want to get the sea time to become captain of your own ship—like I did, MSC will get you there faster than any other job.

MSC is unlike any job you will ever have—underway replenishment. Close quarter maneuvers at high speed.

And I don’t know of too many other jobs in the world where you can exercise tactical control of an entire strike group.

While staying out to sea for long stretches of time without a break is valuable for our new mariners who are working on their licenses, we recognize that this is unsustainable.

Over the past few months, my team and I have been working with our partners in Congress on both sides of the aisle to address this issue.

Thanks to our efforts, the SHIPS For America Act now includes a provision that will grant me as Secretary of the Navy the authority to offer our MSC Merchant Mariners more paid leave.

This provision will allow MSC to bring our leave policies more in line with today’s maritime industry than they are now.

We must recruit and retain world class talent like all of you—and I believe this act will help us do just that.

I thank all of you for answering our national call to maritime service—for volunteering to serve and guaranteeing our national defense.

After all, service and sacrifice are familiar concepts here at Kings Point.

During the Second World War, the cadet-midshipmen of the Merchant Marine Academy courageously served at sea on merchant ships, sailing into harm’s way to deliver supplies to troops and allies around the globe.

142 cadet-midshipmen did not return.

That is why Kings Point is the only Federal Service Academy to carry a Battle Standard of its own.

This institution is unique among the Federal Service Academies in that only Kings Point sends its students—not just its graduates, but its students—directly into combat zones.

This nation emerged victorious from the Second World War because of the selfless service and sacrifice of the 142 Kings Point cadet-midshipmen—alongside the over ninety-five hundred Merchant Mariners lost in combat at sea.

Not enough people know that Merchant Mariners suffered a higher casualty rate than any other military service.

I know a number of the Midshipmen here today did their Sea Year on MSC Ships or U.S. flag merchant vessels engaged in combat in the Red Sea over the past year, carrying on the proud tradition of Kings Pointers sailing into harm’s way.

As our future Merchant Mariners, the training you receive here at Kings Point will equip you to project America’s decisive power around the world.

I am humbled to be here today to honor the sacrifice of our forebearers as well as your own service.

 

USS Long Island

 

The United States has always been a beacon of freedom and hope around the world—and will always defend innocent lives from those who would do them harm.

When Fidel Castro’s tyrannical regime forced my family to flee Cuba in the early 1960s, we sought refuge in the United States.

New York welcomed my family, along with the families of thousands of other Cuban refugees, with open arms.

So, like many immigrants who came to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their families, New York holds a special place in my heart—after all, it is where my “only in America” story began.

And New York has had strong Navy ties since our Nation’s founding.

During World War II, Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn became part of Naval Air Station New York, supporting naval activities throughout the war.

And Brooklyn Shipyard built and serviced ships—including my first ship, USS Koelsch (FF 1049).

Long Islanders themselves have always answered the call to service to our Nation, serving in every major conflict in United States’ history—from the Revolutionary War to the present day.

In New York City last year while onboard USS Wasp (LHD 1), I was proud to announce that the next nuclear-powered Virginia-Class submarine, SSN 809, will be USS Long Island.

Wherever she sails, she will represent the thousands of Long Islanders who have honorably and faithfully served our Navy and our Nation.

 

Sponsor Introduction

 

And, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honored to announce that the ship sponsor of the future USS Long Island is Ms. Iris Weinshall

Ms. Weinshall has dedicated her life to public service and improving the lives the people in the community.

She made significant contributions to New York City as both a former vice chancellor of the City University of New York and a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation.

Ms. Weinshall now serves as the chief operating officer of the New York Public Library.

The ship’s sponsor fills a critical role throughout the life of a warship, serving as the bond between the ship, her crew, and the nation they serve.

Thank you, Ms. Weinshall, for your career of public service and lifelong commitment to our Navy, to our service men and women, and to the United States of America.

You, like the service members who will serve on this proud ship and the place after which it is named, represent the absolute best this country has to offer.

Ma’am, if you would, please join me here at the podium.

 

Closing

 

In closing, our maritime services are indeed the most powerful and capable force this world has ever seen.

I once more thank our Midshipmen here today for answering the call to service of this great Nation, for becoming part of something much bigger than ourselves.

You are the foundation of our maritime services—you ensure that America remains the greatest nation in the world and that we remain the land of the free.

May God bless our Sailors, Marines, and Merchant Mariners. Thank you.