SECNAV Del Toro Announces Name of a Future Constellation-class frigate - FFG-66

Good morning, everyone! It an absolute honor to be with you here at Gracie Mansion to celebrate the 36^th New York City Fleet Week.

Commissioner Hendon, thank you for that kind introduction, and for the work that you and your team does every day on behalf of the Veterans who call New York City home.

We are excited to have three members from the Broadway cast of “Hamilton” here with us today: Jared Dixon who plays Aaron Burr, Jennie Harney-Fleming who plays Angelica Schuyler, and Tamar Greene who plays George Washington. We are so grateful to have you here to celebrate this special occasion.

Mayor Adams, we owe you and every New Yorker a debt of gratitude for opening up your doors and offering a warm welcome to our Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen.

On behalf of the Department of the Navy, I would like to present you with this gift as a token of our appreciation for your enduring support to our personnel and their families.

New York City is indeed a Navy town, but also much more, both as the global financial capital of the world and the heart of our Nation’s economy.

It is a beacon of prosperity, as well as an example of America’s resiliency and unbreakable spirit.

It is where my family settled after fleeing Cuba as refugees of the Castro regime.

Every time I visit my hometown of New York City, I am reminded of why I chose to dedicate my life to serving our great nation over the last 40 years, both in and out of uniform—the opportunity to succeed, to realize your dreams, to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

To our uniformed personnel here today, from Admiral Caudle and Lieutenant General Cavanaugh all the way down to our most junior enlisted Sailor, Marine, and Coast Guardsman—thank you.

Thank you for volunteering your time, your careers, your lives, in service to our great Nation. 

By doing so, you are all part of a legacy that stretches back almost 250 years to our War for Independence from Great Britain.

Those Sailors, Marines and Soldiers of the Continental Navy and Army fought battles both ashore and at sea, including right here in New York.

Their leaders, from Commodore John Barry to General George Washington, came from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. 

They were professional soldiers, mariners, lawyers, farmers, and doctors, with many of them being immigrants or children of immigrants, all yearning for a new life filled with opportunities that were not available to them in the “Old World” of Europe where they came from.

In some cases, like General Washington’s aide-de-camp the Marquis de Lafayette, they were Europeans who felt a kinship to the colonists, a yearning for the same freedoms and democratic ideals these men and women were willing to lay down their lives for.

And since we are here in New York City, I would be remiss if I did not mention Alexander Hamilton, a Caribbean immigrant and one of our Nation’s better known “Founding Fathers.”

Alexander Hamilton, like Lafayette, served on General Washington’s personal staff during the Revolutionary War, ultimately commanding troops during the Battle of Yorktown.

After the war, he established the United States Treasury Department and with it, the forerunner to our Nation’s oldest seagoing service—the United States Coast Guard.

However, what many individuals don’t know is that Secretary Hamilton was a fierce advocate for our Nation to establish a Navy.

As those newly-independent colonists contemplated what institutions their government needed, Hamilton wrote to the people of the State of New York in Federalist Paper #11 of the necessity to create a Navy.

To quote Hamilton—the man, not the Broadway musical—"There can be no doubt, that the continuance of the Union, under an efficient government, would put it in our power, at a period not very distant, to create a navy.”

He recognized that a strong Navy was necessary to protect our fledgling nation’s commercial maritime enterprises, which in turn would allow a Navy and our Nation to flourish as it expanded its role to ensure maritime commerce flows unencumbered.

Secretary Hamilton understood that we, as a maritime nation, needed to establish ourselves from the outset as a maritime power, both commercial and naval.

And so today, here in Hamilton’s home city and state, we are proud to announce that we will be naming our Navy’s future Constellation-class frigate—FFG-66—the USS Hamilton in honor of his contributions and advocacy for our nation’s maritime services.

USS Hamilton, once constructed, will sail around the world, representing the freedom and ideals its namesake spent his life advocating for.

And we are excited to sail alongside the US Coast Guard’s USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753), one of our Nation’s national security cutters, as our sea services work together alongside our international allies and partners to confront the common challenges we all face throughout the maritime domain.

Alexander Hamilton lived a life dedicated to something greater than himself—ideals he was willing to sacrifice his life for on the fields of battle across our Nation.

Let his life’s work and commitment to democratic principles invigorate those of us here this morning as a poignant reminder that we carry on his legacy of service and of sacrifice.

May God bless our Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and their families around the world, and may God continue to grant this city and our Nation with fair winds and following seas. Thank you.