 This year, on October 13th, the United States Navy marks its 238th birthday. Since our beginning in 1775, our Navy has defended America with pride, a tradition that continues today. As Secretary of the Navy, I have the honor and privilege of working with the finest men and women our country has to offer. This was the case 238 years ago, and it remains as true today as it was at our Navy's inception. On any given day, our sailors are deployed around the world, providing a constant presence, defending the American people and our nation's interests. We are, and will continue to be, America's away team. The finest expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known. So today, as we reflect on our heritage, I want to thank all of you for what you do in the service to our Navy and for our country. Happy birthday, Navy Semper Fortis. The McPon and I are here at the Washington Navy Art at our Navy Museum. And behind me is the display of the Battle of Lake Erie, perhaps the most dramatic and important battle in the War of 1812. It was at this battle that our sailors really showed their mettle, really showed their tenacity, and in fact, were the asymmetric advantage for our forces. Today, the all-volunteer force, you are our asymmetric advantage. So think about that as we celebrate our 238th birthday. For 238 years, our Navy has overcome enormous challenges and faced adversity. We've risen with those challenges and built a reputation as the strongest naval force the world has ever seen. We work daily among a rich landscape of ships, bases, and waterways, but it's not the environment that keeps our Navy moving forward. It's our people. This is our heritage. So let's remember the importance as we look ahead of our tenets of today. We're fighting this first, we operate forward, and we will be ready. We will use the genius of our diverse force, our all-volunteer force, and we will be where it matters, when it matters, because that's what you and I are about our great Navy of today. Thank you for your service, shipmates. I'm proud to serve with you, and thanks to our Navy families, none of us could do what we do without your love and support. Since 1775, individuals have been called to serve the United States with pride upon the world's oceans. As with all Americans, who they were or where they were from mattered not. For in this noble experiment, destinies could be made and remade, depending upon the individual's contributions, like honor, courage, and commitment. However, service in the Navy offers a unique opportunity to be part of something greater than ourselves. For in the Navy, we never stand to watch alone. For 238 years, Americans have stood the watch together as members of a ship's crew. They live together, train together, and fight together. There have been great individual heroes throughout our Navy's history, but by and large, our history has been dominated by great crews, the ships whose names they made synonymous with glory. Names evoke powerful responses. They link us with all who have gone before, and all who will come after. They tell us who we are and what we stand for. Our actions can either add to or subtract from the honor attached to the name. So who have been the great crews, and what are the names they have bequeathed to us their posterity? We are the revolutionaries of the Ranger, taking one of the first salutes to our nation's colors. And the sailors of the Bon Arm Richard, defeating the 50-gun British Seraphus, even as the Bon Arm Richard sank beneath them. We are the Tars of the 17-gun schooner, High Condoroga, cutting through a British squadron with deadly cannon fire on Lake Champlain. And the men of the Essex, standing forth alone and unafraid in a Pacific, capturing the British whaling crew. We are the blues of the Cure Sarge, ending the Alabama's raids on Union commerce, and the armor-plated men of the Monitor fighting the Virginia with Stan Still. We are the crew of the Olympia, firing when ready at Manila in 1898, and the blue jackets aboard the destroyer Nicholson, rolling depth charges on U-boats during the World War I convoy. We are the aviators of carrier air groups 3, 6, and 8, wrecking devastation on four Japanese carriers at Midway, and the gunners of the Nevada, covering the Allied landings at Normandy on D-Day. We are the destroyer men of the Johnston, taking on a Japanese force that included the world's largest battleship. We are the submariners of the Tang, sinking 24 ships, pulling 95,000 tons. We are the flight deck crews saving the forest hole, and the oh-so-silent men serving on parchees and earning nine presidential unit citations and ten naval unit citations during a war so cold that their patrols may never be declassified. We are the all-astronaut crew of the Lunar Lander Intrepid. We are the American sailors of the Enterprise, a name so hallowed that it has appeared eight times on the stern of an American ship from the original Lucky Little Schooner, the recently retired first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Sometimes there is power and singularity. Certainly this is the case for the USS Constitution. Undefeated in battle, Old Ironsides holds a special place, both as our ship of state, but also as the living heart of our Navy. Like the document she was named for, she endures in her simplicity, with power and inspire. Pairing forward our living legacies as Navy crew members is a calling of duty. The world's oceans have been made safer, and this world far freer by the American ships who were born these names and approved the mandate. Their sailors have stood the watch continuously under fire and at peace, upon calm seas and high seas, and seas dotted with polar ice and oceans basped in equatorial sunlight. They have fought for their nation, for their families, and for each other, often paying the ultimate price. Some have earned swift honor, while others' glory only came in time, but none are forgotten. Their dedication, bravery, selflessness, and basic decency towards their fellow man have established and protected the reputation of our nation around the world. Action by action, sacrifice by sacrifice, they have built the largest, most powerful, and most respected Navy in the world, as ever. They have served with pride since 1775. Secure the watch, Year 238. Set the watch, Year 239.