Vice Admiral (Ret.) Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., U.S. Navy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator Remarks at the Commissioning of NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON Norfolk, Va. July 8, 2003 Good morning everybody! I’d like to welcome all our visitors today, including Susan Stein from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation; Admiral Thomas Donaldson and Captain Jerry Becker from the US Navy; Captain Robert O’Brien from the US Coast Guard; NOAA’s Admirals Evelyn Fields and Nick Prahl; Dr. Rick Spinrad from NOAA’s Ocean Service; our good friend on Capitol Hill, John Rayfield; Commander Steve Barnum, Commanding Officer of NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON; our many maritime industry constituents and partners here today; other distinguished visitors; and ladies and gentlemen. I’m very happy to be back in Norfolk for the commissioning ceremony of this impressive hydrographic survey vessel, the NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON. And I would like to thank everybody involved in arranging this ceremony today. When I mentioned to several folks that I was traveling to Norfolk for a ship commissioning, some asked whether I was coming here for the USS RONALD REAGAN commissioning. I told them “No”, I was coming for the commissioning of another ship named for a president—the NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON! And let me tell you, the RONALD REAGAN doesn’t get underway without the nautical charts produced by the officers and crew of the NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON and NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey! I want to convey my sincere thanks to the many people who made the transfer of this vessel to NOAA possible and are keeping it in service to the Nation. In the Senate our thanks go to: Senator Judd Gregg and Senator Fritz Hollings and their staff, Kevin Linskey and Lila Helms. In the House many thanks to Represenative Frank Wolf of Virginia and Representative Jose Serrano and their staff, Christine Ryan Kojac and Dave Pomerantz, as well as John Rayfield from the House Resources Committee! In the Navy we also have many friends to thank: the Oceanographer of the Navy, Rear Admiral Thomas Wilson, and his staff; Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Rear Admiral Thomas Donaldson, Commander Wes Anderson, and the rest of the staff; Commander, Military Sealift Command, Vice Admiral David Brewer, and his staff; Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Charlie Moore; and the Fleet Readiness Division of CNO N4—especially Barbara Lewis, who put a lot of effort into seeing this through. I also want to thank the officers and crew of this ship and all the people in NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations and the National Ocean Service who modified and installed electronic equipment and got this ship back in operation 6 weeks after the transfer! All these people worked to see this ship transferred to NOAA and put into operation to continue serving our great country. In my Navy career I was stationed here in Norfolk, and at one point I was the Commanding Officer of the Naval station down the road. The Hampton Roads area is especially interesting to a Navy and NOAA man like me because it is so intertwined with our Nation’s maritime heritage, from the Revolutionary War, through the Civil War with the nearby battle between the USS MONITOR and Confederate ship VIRGINIA, up to the present with an un-equaled naval facility, significant merchant marine activity, and NOAA’s own Atlantic ship operations. NOAA’s mission is to describe and predict changes in the environment, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources. Our mission is faced with a new urgency, because of intensifying national needs related to the economy, the environment, public safety, and homeland security. NOAA’s fleet is a critical component of our data gathering efforts. As many of you realize, several NOAA research and survey ships are nearing the end of their useful service lives. It is one of our highest priorities to re-capitalize the NOAA fleet and bring the average age of the ships down. And that’s why I’m excited to be here today! This year alone NOAA is celebrating the commissioning of the OSCAR ELTON SETTE, McARTHUR II, THOMAS JEFFERSON, and NANCY FOSTER. And we’re launching the OSCAR DYSON in October. This year the average age of the NOAA fleet will fall from 33.6 years to 28.2 years. Putting
newer ships and technology into operation, such as NOAA Ship THOMAS
JEFFERSON, is important to the Nation’s economic security
and homeland security, just as the Navy’s ships at the
Norfolk Naval station are important to our military security. All
the same, it’s not only ships and technology we need to conduct
NOAA’s missions. We need intelligent and dedicated people to
operate these ships and use their products, and educating the
next generations of hydrographers, oceanographers, and meteorologists
is important for our future. This ship is operated by NOAA’s Marine and Aviation Operations, and will directly support NOAA’s vital mission goals. One of those goals is to support the Nation’s commerce with information for safe, efficient, and environmentally sound transportation. Maritime trade is the foundation of the commerce of our country. Waterborne cargo alone contributes more than $742B to the US GDP and created employment for more than 13 million citizens. That is big business! And it’s essential for our Nation’s economic strength. NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON is directly involved in surveying our waterways to ensure merchant and Navy ships can enter and leave our ports safely. Another NOAA mission goal is to protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management. THOMAS JEFFERSON also surveys fish habitat to assist NOAA’s efforts to make wise science-based decisions about the uses of our fisheries resources. And fisheries is also big business in the United States - commercial fisheries add approximately $28.6B of economic value to the national economy every year. This ship, along with NOAA’s other ships and aircraft, weather satellites, weather radars, and buoy systems is part of an emerging global observation system that is already assisting NOAA to make sound science-based management decisions. NOAA is leading the interagency planning effort for an Earth Observation Summit to be held in Washington at the end of July. This summit is being held to build international support for a global observation system to build on the foundation of years of scientific and technological progress. As this system evolves it will have significant effects for NOAA and its missions and our need to have sound, science-based decisions. In closing, I want to note how Thomas Jefferson has affected the development of NOAA and why it is appropriate that we are commissioning this ship here in Virginia. In 1807 President Jefferson signed into law an Act of the 9th Congress! “To provide for surveying the coasts of the United States.” The Survey of the Coast was born. And 196 years later this work is still vitally important to this Nation and its maritime transportation system. President Jefferson was a scientist, with many interests. I dare say he would be interested in how NOAA has taken his original charge to survey our coastline to ensure the safety of our Nation’s commerce and brought it to where we are today! That is—standing here before this impressive ship with state-of-the-art equipment, a crew of dedicated professionals to operate her, and the participation of our maritime partners! I wish the officers and crew of NOAA Ship THOMAS JEFFERSON fair winds and following seas in carrying out the important work of this vessel for the advancement of NOAA and the Nation! God bless this ship, and God bless the United States of America!
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