 Because our anticipated attendance today is over 9,000, I would like to take this air of building 304, lavatory facilities have been provided. As you might imagine, ships, company, a tan, hut. Ladies and gentlemen, the president's helicopter has landed. Please rise for the gun salute, which will commence as the presidential limousine approaches the ceremony area. Present homes. Commander McKenna, proceed with the commissioning ceremony. Aye aye, sir. Chaplain Hornsby will deliver the invocation. May we pray. Almighty God, we thank you for this day and for the many ways you have blessed our lives. This afternoon, we invoke your presence and favor as we recommission the United States ship, New Jersey. May this vessel, born in war and nurtured in victory, do its part to maintain peace in the world. Our Father, we dedicate this ship today to those who planned and worked toward its rebirth. We dedicate this ship to America as a reforged link in a strong and necessary chain of defense. Help all of us who man heard to keep our hearts pure and our hands clean. Protect us from the dangers of the sea and give us the courage to do our duty, whatever the circumstance. Be with all of us who go down to the sea and ships, who do our business in great waters, who daily see your works and the wonders of the deep. We ask now for your particular blessings upon our president and upon the leadership of our Navy, Marine Corps, and country. May we all continue to work for the creation of a new and a better world, a world in which love and brotherhood prevail, and the mantle of peace covers the earth. We ask not for easy lives, rather we would be stronger men. We ask not for tasks equal to our power. We ask for power equal to our tasks. Amen. Will the guests please be seated? Ships, company, parade, rest. Ladies and gentlemen, the Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable John Layman. Mr. President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, just two-and-a-half years ago in a landmark speech in Chicago, Governor Ronald Reagan made an historic statement. He said, and I quote, we have to maintain a superior Navy. We are a nation with vital interests and commitments overseas, and our Navy must stay ahead of the Soviet buildup. This means commissioning the ships and developing the technology which will enable the United States to command the oceans for decades to come. This historic statement was made at a time when, around the world, there was a faltering confidence in the United States as a keeper of the peace. When our fleet had dropped in a few short years from 1,000 ships to 460 ships, when the morale of our soldiers and sailors was at an all-time low, immediately upon taking office, President Reagan said forth one of the most ambitious peacetime military recovery programs in history. He put forward a program to reacquire the strength to keep the peace and to do it now. He put forward a program to restore the dignity to military service and to restore a living wage. And he put forward a program to do this austerely and at the lowest level of budgetary expenditure in the last 20 years as a percentage of GNP. And the naysayers, of course, were there. They said the program was too ambitious. They said the nation cannot afford it. They said we are unable to manage such an ambitious buildup, and we cannot man a military force of that size. Well, today, ladies and gentlemen, we have the historic privilege to witness the confounding of the President's critics. Today our President is witness to the fruits of his steadfastness and his courage. This great ship that we recommission today symbolizes the attributes of President Reagan's defense policy.