U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Delivers Remarks During Christening of National Security Multi-Mission Vessel Patriot State at Philly Shipyard

Today, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined maritime industry, congressional, and naval leaders for a traditional christening of a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV). 

This vessel, the Patriot State, is the second of five training vessels to be completed at the Philly Shipyard and loaned for use to Massachusetts Maritime Academy thanks to USDOT’s investment in the NSMV program.  

The NSMV program provides state-of-the-art training platform for student mariners, creates and supports good-paying jobs — with over 1,450 shipyard jobs during construction in Philadelphia and additional jobs at sea and ashore once completed — and strengthens the U.S. shipbuilding, repair and manufacturing industries. 

The full transcript of Secretary Buttigieg’s remarks:  

Good afternoon, Philadelphia.  

Thank you, Jarrat [Bay], and thank you to everybody who has had a hand in this extraordinary vessel and this great day. I have really, really been looking forward to this one. I already think I have the best job in the federal government, but rarely is it as rewarding as when we get to recognize the kind of great work that we mark today with this dedication. 

I want to recognize the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, who are believers in this mission and this program.  I want to thank Administrator Anne Phillips and all of the leaders of the Maritime Administration, career and appointed, in this administration and several administrations, who have seen this through. Thank you for your leadership and thanks to the entire MARAD team. This is a big lift, as we say. 

It’s a particular honor to be with Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, I want to thank you for looking after America’s Navy, I want to thank you for your leadership. And I want to specifically thank you for how the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense have teamed up with the Department of Transportation, recognizing the mutual benefit to the national security mission and our transportation imperatives, and — as we’ll talk about in a minute — America’s shipbuilding industry that I am big believer of the future of, thanks largely to the work that’s going on. So, thank you Secretary for everything that you do every day. 

You don’t get to have favorite cabinet secretaries, and I don’t get to have favorite branches of the service I guess, technically, but I mean — I am pretty excited to be among so many Navy folks and Coast Guard folks. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon has been a phenomenal partner to this administration who understands the importance of infrastructure and has supported so much transportation work, so much building that we are doing, so many efforts that we are funding, whether we are talking about building new rail cars for SEPTA or building new bridges, like the MLK Bridge, or road improvements that are benefitting the Philadelphia region. But she has been particularly outspoken and steadfast in helping to secure the future of the Philadelphia shipyard. And we are so proud that the Department of Transportation is right in the middle of that vision. Thank you, Representative. 

Admiral [Fran] McDonald, no pressure, but we are looking forward to you doing great things with this vessel. Thanks to the entire team at the academy for everything you do to prepare the next generation. We are so proud to team up with you on this. 

To our ship sponsor, Mary Thomann, thank you for — oh, she is already getting ready to do the honors. Alright, well, we will hear from her in a moment. 

To Jeff Dixon, President of TOTE, thank you for the extraordinary delivery of this extraordinary vessel and as you noted, a model that I think many will look to for the future. 

And Steinar, so good to get to know you here. And your energy is contagious. When you say “Tusen takk,” I don’t feel I can say “Vær så god.” But I just have to say “Selv takk” — Thanks to you as well for this extraordinary delivery and what I can only assume is weather very similar to what they have in Trondheim in Norway, on certain days.  

Most importantly, two groups of people I want to recognize and thank: the cadets who will train and who have chosen to be part of the future of a proud maritime tradition and a proud seafaring nation. And the workers who have made all of this possible, including the apprentices that I had a chance to meet a little bit earlier who are driving prosperity for this whole region. 

I’ve always believed that a good body of work is something you should be able to explain even to a child. But my belief in that proposition began to be really tested when, as part of our bedtime routine, our now three-year-old daughter, for some reason, at the very end of the bedtime sequence, which as toddler parents know is a very elaborate sequence, probably not unlike the punch list for getting a ship going, would at the very end say, “Papa, tell me about your work.” 

After the third or fourth time she did that, I asked her, “Does me telling you about my job help you go to sleep?” 

And she said, “Yeah.” 

So, I really try to do it, and some days, like when I’m preparing to testify in an Appropriations Subcommittee about the Fiscal Year 25 budget, it’s a little bit hard to render. 

But last night I had the heartwarming privilege of being able to say, well, tomorrow I’m going to go to a place called Philadelphia, where they build ships. And we’re going to help buy a new ship that’s going to help our country. 

Then she said “Why?” 

I said, “Well, because the old ones have gone on past their life. They’re starting to wear out. They’re starting to break down.” 

She said, “Why?” 

Now if you have a toddler, you know where this ends. I couldn’t remember the high school chemistry about how seawater corrosion operates on a ship. 

But I was proud for at least the first couple of “’why’s”, even a new three-year-old could understand what we are doing here. Because it is, as sophisticated as this is, it’s also that basic. We are getting a new vessel to serve an important purpose for the future of this country. And that is why it is such a pleasure to join you to christen and formally introduce the latest National Security Multi-Mission Vessel the Patriot State.  

This is nothing new for the Secretary of the Navy over here, but over at the DOT, it’s not every day that we get to celebrate the arrival of a new ship. And it’s an occasion that speaks to, I think, one of the most important and least famous parts of our Department’s mission, which is preparing that next generation of American mariners, so much of which we do in partnership with our excellent academies. And so this, like the earlier dedication of the Empire State, is a very good day for entire American maritime tradition.   

And we are a proud maritime nation. Our coasts and lakes and rivers our sea power and maritime commerce sustain all of us across America, whether you realize it or not. Whether you live on the coast or in the desert or somewhere in between, this benefits you. Our entire nation depends on the men and women who have sailed our waters and those who have built the ships and kept the vessels that bear them.   

Today, as the Biden-Harris Administration honors the completion of the NSMV II Patriot State, before she comes under the care of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, we do so recognizing how the safety and prosperity of our nation require that we attend to future chapters of our life as a maritime nation.   

Philadelphia, of course, is an especially critically part of this history. Ever since that the first naval shipyard shaped up here on the Delaware during the earliest days of our Republic, generations of Philadelphians gathered to watch ships launch and legions of workers have built the vessels that served our country, knowing that they weren’t just building ships for our nation but also building livelihoods for their own families.   

Over the centuries, the shipbuilding tradition here evolved. And not unlike the automaking tradition in the part of the country where I grew up, there have been good times, tough times, and sometimes when people asked if that tradition had any future at all.   

Just a few years ago, after a steady period of shipbuilding here at Philly Shipyard, work had slowed. So that by 2019, there were only about 80 people working in the entire shipyard. The story of this class of vessels is part of what changed that. For some time it’s been clear that the Federal Maritime Administration needs a new type of training vessel. Congress responded, and the previous administration tapped TOTE Services to help realize this vision at, yes, lightspeed.    

The Biden-Harris Administration has had the distinct honor and responsibility to advance this good work over the last four years to deliver funding to the Philly Shipyard to build these vessels.  And that has brought us to today, where we mark and celebrate the results of this partnership, amid the rightful pride of all who had a hand in building this extraordinary, sophisticated, and important class of American-made vessels. Today, the Philly Shipyard is living proof of what it means to this city, and this country, when we choose the path of maritime strength. Because just a few years since those lean and hard times, when only a few dozen people kept the lights on, the Philly Shipyard now employs upwards of 1,700 people. And I can sense the vision to grow upon that and build upon that every minute that I’ve been here today. 

We know what every one of these jobs can bring; these skilled jobs that are here, these union jobs that we see participating in these projects. These jobs can bring the chance to own a home, a new car or truck in the driveway, and, with the holiday season coming up, it presents under the tree. It means fuel for the economic life of this entire city and region and well beyond. Consider the 23 manufacturers and distributors across the US who are providing the materials used to build these vessels… including those engines that power these vessels, built by Wabtec in Western Pennsylvania. So the number of good jobs we’re supporting here multiplies, as was mentioned, uniting Steelers fans and Eagles fans in a common cause. Although after what happened to my Irish, I don’t know that I want to talk about football right now.   

As you know, we have three more NSMVs to finish building! The State of Maine that is right next to us here, and NSMVs 4 and 5 soon to come. And I want to congratulate the Shipyard on the additional work you’ve won to build the Acadia that will support offshore wind turbines, as well as the container ships on order.  You’re going to have a lot to celebrate over the next few years.  And, equally important, our Mariners have a lot celebrate with these state-of-the-art ships. No nation has ever built a merchant marine officer training vessel class like this one.     

I won’t repeat everything that the others have covered, and Admiral Phillips’ description of the capabilities of this vessel. But I’ll just say that this Administration is proud to deliver the vessels that are training the next generation of Merchant Marine Officers. These are young women and men who choose to serve in a career that is essential to America’s military and economic strength.   

And I think a lot about the careers, the stories, the friendships, the lives, that will be shaped and changed for the better on the decks of this very vessel, because of what has been built together here and in this community because of the process of building it. 

And because of capabilities of this multi mission vessel, the multi mission part — think also of the places and scenarios that, for better or and for worse, we can’t yet envision being here today. But we know that her approach will be a tremendous relief to someone in need — when this ship, as well as the Empire State and their future sister ships, are there responding to natural disasters, called upon to protect Americans in danger, or offering humanitarian aid to those in need.   

Today we come together around priorities that have endured across administrations — a worthy mission we can all support at a time when our national discourse bears too little emphasis on just how much we Americans do all agree on. And it gives me great pride and reassurance to reflect that years, decades, or even generations from now, people will look back on this day and on the arrival of these vessels as a landmark in the proud tradition of the Philly Shipyard and of our seafaring nation.    

I’ll just leave you with one other thought. I actually lay eyes on an NSMV every day I come to the office because I’ve got one of those beautiful models set up right at the door to the inner office suite in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation. So, I asked myself as I was coming here today, as I do any time I happen to be going up I-95, craning my neck to see how it’s coming — I’m keeping an eye on the projects, Steinar, every chance I get.  And of course, you ask yourself, how’s it going to look compared to the model. And what I saw on board reflected, of course, things you can only imagine when you’re looking at the outside of the model. 

But the most important thing I’ve seen here, and I’ve seen it at literally every moment I’ve been here, is not reflected in the model at all, and it’s the pride. The rightful, powerful, contagious pride of everyone who was part of this program, and everyone connected to this class of vessels. That pride will help name this ship and that pride will help guide this ship. And that pride is something that all of you share and deservedly so. So, thank you for the chance to celebrate with you and congratulations on this excellent work! 

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