 Gentlemen, please welcome the Honorable Paul Ignatius, former Secretary of the Navy, and the Honorable Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy. Yes, please be seated. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus is our 75th Secretary of the Navy. He has said that one of his favorite things to do as Secretary is what brings us all here together today. Please welcome our host for this ceremony, Secretary Ray Mabus. My notes are so I don't forget to introduce any of the distinguished folks we have here today, starting out with our Honoree, Paul Ignatius, his family, David, his wife, Nancy. I'm so sorry. Son, David, wife Eve, and granddaughter, Alex Ignatius. We have several former Secretaries of the Navy. John Dalton, Will Ball, Sean O'Keeffe. We've got B.J. Penn. We've got H.T. Johnson, Charles Bowser, and his wife, Mary. All incredibly distinguished predecessors in this office. I had a few questions about Sean O'Keeffe because he was Chancellor of LSU for a while. But he has proven himself and has risen above those humble beginnings. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, honorisous with his presence, Commandant Jim Amos, and the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Mark Ferguson. And Mr. Secretary, the Chief of Naval Operations, since his regrets, he is on travel today or he would have been here. You have the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs while in Garcia. The Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for the Comptroller, Charlie Cook, Carl Lucchino, the administrative head of administration for the Secretary at Tom Tash, is here. And in the back, Thomas Opel, my special assistant, Pamela Kunze, public affairs officer for the Secretary who did the introduction. There is a lot of accumulated wisdom here from our former secretaries, from our current serving military and serving civilians. We are here to honor today the accumulated wisdom and experience of someone who preceded us all in this office and who in many ways set the standard for what the Secretary of the Navy should be in the way this job should be approached. Paul Ignatius, the son of Armenian immigrants who began his autobiography by saying that his service as a lieutenant in the United States Navy was transformative. And he came out with far more confidence than he had gone in. And I think that's true for so many of us who served. He went to Harvard Business School following the war. During the war, he was on the USS Manila Bay, who was in northern Japan, Hokkaido, with Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher receiving the surrender from the northern Japanese forces. And then went to Harvard Business School, found it a very successful consulting company, came into government, was Assistant Secretary of Defense before he was Secretary of the Navy. While he was Secretary, some of the things he had to deal with, the Tet Offensive, capture the Puebla by the North Koreans, the F-111 fighter program, and budget issues. So just to recap, a counter-insurgency war, problems with the North Koreans, a joint fighter for all the services and budget issues. We've come a long way since your day here. The DDG-117, the PCU pre-commissioning unit, Paul Ignatius, will be one of the backbones of the fleet. The DDG-51 program built in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and in Bath Main are some of the most capable, versatile ships that the United States Navy possesses, capable of simultaneously pursuing undersea warfare, surface warfare, air warfare, and now ballistic missile defense work. It is truly the workhorse of the fleet. It's what people think of when they think of the United States Navy, United States naval ships. The Ignatius will be in our fleet for three to four decades. It will sail virtually every ocean of the world. And many times, the sailors on the Ignatius will be the only Americans that people from other countries will ever meet. It will be a reminder of the experience, the wisdom of Paul Ignatius. And you have to look at this in Navy terms for the long haul. There are sailors who will sail on the Paul Ignatius who have not yet been born today. And so in the first, thank you all for being here. Thank you, Secretary Ignatius, for your service. And in the immortal Navy words, God bless the USS Paul Ignatius and all those who sailed in her. Mr. Secretary. I was really quite overwhelmed when Secretary Mabus told me that this ship was going to be named in my honor. And I thank you in the Navy Department for this. The Navy meant a lot to me in my life. I was lucky as a young naval officer to serve under a really quite wonderful captain named Fitchu Lee, who earned the Navy Cross twice on our ship. And one of the great pleasures I had as Secretary of the Navy was speaking to an audience in San Diego where Captain Lee, then Vice Admiral Lee, retired in the audience. And I'm sure the last thing that Captain Lee would ever have thought was that a young lieutenant in his ship would someday be Secretary of the Navy. But it did happen. And I asked him to stand, and I expressed to the audience how much I had learned from him. I spent eight years in the Pentagon. The last two was Secretary of the Navy. But prior to that, as Assistant Secretary of Defense, particularly, I worked closely with the Navy Secretariat and with the uniformed leaders of the Navy and the Marine Corps. I was fortunate to have wonderful people, both in uniform and in civilian clothes, to assist me. Tom More was the CNO. Leonard Chapman was the commandant. And I'm especially pleased that Chuck Bauser and his wife, Mary, are here today. Chuck was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for financial management and quickly made himself indispensable to the Navy. And if I remember, Chuck, you got involved in something that went on interminably that had to do with the Mark-54 torpedo. Was that it? It was the Mark-48 torpedo. Mark-48 torpedo. And the point I think I want to make is how I think how effectively Chuck and his uniformed counterparts and the rest of us worked together. We had a very strong group of people. Jim Bannerman, a legendary civilian, was the Assistant Secretary for procurement, later Barry Shilito. And Bob Frosh was the R&D Secretary. Bob later became the head of NASA and the head of research at General Motors. Chuck became the Controller General of the United States. And this is an example, I think, of the high quality of the people. It was a privilege for me because I'd love my time in the Navy in World War II. And it was a privilege to be the Secretary. It meant a lot also, I think, for my family and particularly for my wife, who felt very much at home in the Navy surroundings. And she was very helpful to me when I was first offered an opportunity in President Kennedy's administration to come into the government. I was flattered to be asked, but my company was just beginning to be profitable. And I thought I'd love to serve in the government someday. But perhaps this wasn't just the right time. My wife looked at me and said, you know, maybe when you're ready to go in the government, nobody wants you to come. Well, I must say that did it. And I called back and said, I'm your guy if you still want me. Those of you who may have been at the Navy ball will excuse me if I repeat something I said that night about Nan. She struggled long and hard all of those years raising our four wonderful children. And between changing diapers, managed to earn a master's degree at American University and in international relations. But she was helpful to me in more ways than I can say. And as I said that night at the Navy ball, there was one day, Secretary Marwes, when I came home from the office in a real snit. I don't know what had happened, but something had gone wrong. Perhaps you've had days like this also. And I went home and I couldn't stop talking about how cruel the world was and how unfair it was. And I went on and on and on and on. And when I finally ran out of gas, she looked at me and smiled and said, but remember, you're entitled to a 19 gun salute. Well, that broke the ice. I don't think I have to tell you how grateful I am to you for this honor of having a ship named after me. As I said, I was overwhelmed when I learned about it. And I'm grateful to you and to the Navy Department and to all of you. Thank you all for coming. A number of my predecessors are here. And I thank you all for coming. And I join you in God bless the United States and God bless the United States Navy and the Marine Corps. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.