[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2421-E2422]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ADDRESS BY CAPT. MARTY SMITH

                                 ______


                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 20, 1995

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, On October 14, 1995, Capt. Marty Smith, 
commander of the U.S.S. Jefferson City addressed the annual Mid-
Missouri Navy League Navy Birthday Ball in Jefferson City, MO. This 
speech is set forth herein:

 Speech Given at the 1995 Mid-Missouri Navy League Navy Birthday Ball 
             held on October 14, 1995 in Jefferson City, MO

       Congressman and Mrs. Skelton, President Green, members of 
     the mid-Missouri Navy League, and citizens of Jefferson City, 
     it's a great honor and privilege for me to speak to you all 
     tonight in the ship's namesake city. I, along with my eleven 
     shipmates, have had a wonderful time since we arrived here 
     Friday. Crew members who have been here before have told us 
     of the friendliness and hospitality of the great state of 
     ``Missoura'', and we are finding it all true. Everyone has 
     been wonderful, starting with Herman Smith and Petty Officer 
     Wall who picked us up in St. Louis early Friday morning, to 
     the host families who have gone out of their way to make us 
     feel like adopted sons.
       Well, we missed you all last year, because as most of you 
     know, last October, the ship was in the middle of a Western 
     Pacific deployment, having all sorts of adventures in the Sea 
     of Japan with the Kitty Hawk Battle Group. And yes, next year 
     you'll have toast us in absentia because we'll once again be 
     deployed, this time with the Karl Vinson Battle Group in the 
     Arabian Gulf. Perhaps you'll be able to delay the festivities 
     for awhile until we return in mid-November!
       I don't get paid to make speeches, but if there's one thing 
     about public speaking I do know, it's that the hardest 
     audience in the world is a bunch of submariners and 
     submariner supporters sitting around waiting for the speech 
     to end so they can resume the party. So let me just fill you 
     in briefly on what we've been up to in the past year, and 
     what our future schedule holds.
       We got back from our maiden deployment last year a couple 
     of days before Christmas, and what a deployment it was * * * 
     So unique, with so many challenges, for such a relatively 
     inexperienced crew. I can't possibly convey to you how proud 
     I was of the crew as they put in 110 percent every single day 
     for six months away from their friends and loved ones. They 
     did such a good job, as a matter of fact, that as Congressman 
     Skelton can tell you, I was asked to give a debrief of the 
     deployment to the top admiral of the Navy, the Chief of Naval 
     Operations, Admiral Boorda. This kind of recognition, by the 
     way, only happens to a very few ships every year. In 
     addition, the crew was awarded a total of 4 Navy Commendation 
     Medals, 25 Navy Achievement Medals, and over 50 Flag Officer 
     Letters of Commendation. I can't give you the details of our 
     deployment, obviously, for security reasons, but JFC, as 
     we're known in message traffic shorthand, accomplished many 
     unique firsts, achieved innovative and significant tactical 
     breakthroughs across the spectrum of submarine operations, 
     including anti-diesel ASW, tomahawk strike warfare, and very 
     shallow water operations. We visited Japan, South Korea, 
     Singapore, Hong Kong for Thanksgiving, and Pearl Harbor on 
     the way home. The crew was underway, underwater, for over 78 
     percent of the six months, enjoyed great liberty visits, and 
     even found time for a humanitarian project at an orphanage in 
     Singapore. The ship steamed more than 40,000 miles on nuclear 
     power with no major equipment problems, which was especially 
     notable since we had only a single ten-day maintenance period 
     over the entire six months. The contributions Jefferson City 
     made to the Kitty Hawk battle group were real and played a 
     major role in helping Admiral Blair, the Battle Group 
     Commander, to complete his assigned mission--to provide a 
     stabilizing and influential presence in the Western Pacific 
     after the dictator of North Korea, Kim il Sung, died in early 
     July 1994, with no apparent successor. As you may remember, 
     there was more than a little concern because of the 
     leadership void and the vast military forces which North 
     Korea has poised just north of the 39th parallel. So 
     Jefferson City and the rest of the Battle Group remained 
     tethered to the South Korean peninsula, instead of going to 
     the beautiful Arabian gulf, and we followed the traditions of 
     several famous WWII submarines, such as CDR Mush Morton and 
     Electrician's Mate Herman Smith seated in the back there, in 
     seeing just how yellow the yellow sea can be. In recognition 
     of our efforts, Jefferson City received the first of many 
     unit commendations she will undoubtedly receive during her 
     30-year career, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, which is 
     represented by a ribbon you see on our chests tonight and a 
     pennant which we fly proudly from our sail inport.
       Anyway, I or any of the crew here tonight will be glad to 
     answer your questions about the ship or the deployment. We 
     also brought the ship's photo album here, which you're 
     welcome to take a look at. It's too bad that the old COB, 
     Master Chief Harden, isn't here to explain a couple of those 
     pictures!
       Since the deployment, Jefferson City has been tasked with 
     several local operations in the Southern California area with 
     other ships and submarines, some torpedo testing in the 
     Pacific Northwest on a couple of trips, a major tactical 
     inspection which we did very well on, and had the distinct 
     pleasure of hosting some of you for a VIP cruise last June. 
     In August we started a 3-month shipyard modernization period 
     in San Diego. Right now the boat is in drydock, getting 
     many improvements, which will make us quieter, faster, and 
     deadlier to our potential adversaries. When Jefferson City 
     returns to sea in late-November, we will head up to Alaska 
     for sound trials and then return to port just before 
     Christmas following a big engineering inspection. In 
     February and March we conduct training exercises with our 
     new boss, the Karl Vinson Battle Group, and then start our 
     second six month deployment in mid-May. And for those of 
     you waiting to visit the ship until we move to Pearl 
     Harbor, Hawaii, that date has been firmed up and is now 
     November of 1997.
       You may have also heard about another VIP cruise we hosted, 
     this one for Mr. George Will, the national political 
     columnist who writes in Newsweek and over 250 news papers 
     nationwide. After his cruise he wrote a very impressive essay 
     for Newsweek magazine which resulted in several nice 
     accolades for the ship. I'd like to quote the beginning 
     paragraph from Mr. Will's essay for those of you who didn't 
     get a chance to read it. The back cover page of the Sept 3 
     issue of Newsweek begins thusly: ``Aboard the USS Jefferson 
     City (SSN 759) underway off San Diego--Submariners say there 
     are just two kinds of ships: submarines and targets. Feel 
     free to disagree, but smile when you do, because the 140-man 
     crew of this fast attack nuclear submarine is armed. It 
     carries torpedoes, Harpoon anti-ship missiles for distances 
     torpedoes cannot travel--far over the horizon--and Tomahawk 
     land-attack cruise missiles. (Two submarines of this class, 
     one in the Red Sea and one in the Mediterranean, launched a 
     total of 12 tomahawks during the gulf War). The Jefferson 
     City can cruise quietly at above 25 kts submerged and its 
     acoustic detection systems can find quiet adversaries. The 
     psalmist didn't know the half of it when he wrote that they 
     who go down to the sea in ships see ``wonders in the deep.'' 
     This ship is a wonder of tightly packed technology. End 
     quote. Mr. Will then goes on with an insightful and accurate 
     discussion of the contribution of the nuclear submarine to 
     modern warfare and why the United States needs to keep on the 
     leading edge of undersea warfare, in front of the Russian 
     submarine force and other countries with modern submarines.
       What Mr. Will doesn't discuss is the sailor or officer, the 
     Petty Officer Campbell's and the LT Smiths, standing watch, 
     day and night, 6 hrs on and a quick 12 hrs off, for weeks on 
     end away from his friends and loved ones, deep under the 
     ocean's surface. These men and women are something that no 
     country can buy from a Russian army-navy surplus store, and 
     is, and will always be, the difference between the United 
     States Navy and all other navies. These people are why we are 
     here, celebrating the 220th birthday of the greatest navy in 
     the world. Our top boss of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral 
     Zlatoper, who toured our ship last summer in Japan, sent out 
     the following message this past week: quote ``The Navy's 
     220th birthday finds the 

[[Page E2422]]
     Pacific Fleet emerging from it's restructuring as a lean formidable, 
     combat ready force with a strong commitment of quality of 
     life for our people. America needs its navy more than ever as 
     we contend with regional conflicts, proliferation of weapons, 
     and political uncertainties around the globe. Today the Navy-
     Marine Corps team is forward-deployed, first on the scene, 
     and flexible enough to respond to almost every contingency 
     from the sea. With fewer U.S. bases overseas and uncertain 
     access to bases of the nations, the Navy will be the primary 
     guarantor of American interests in the Pacific for decades. 
     End quote.''
       And the Navy needs your continued support as Navy League 
     members, educating the public on the need to maintain a 
     strong maritime armed service and helping to recruit quality 
     people like the officers and crew you see here tonight. I was 
     on a Trident ballistic missile submarine on alert patrol in 
     the Northern Pacific when the Soviet Union dissolved, ending 
     the Cold War. Yet there was no celebration or overt glee--
     just the feeling that our mission had changed in ways we 
     didn't quite know yet. And today, one gulf war later, the 
     world is not a safer, more stable place for you and your 
     children, but more unstable than ever before. And the United 
     States is the only country which will make the right things 
     happen, when we choose, because our Navy, first on the scene, 
     has the ``right stuff.'' As George Will concludes his 
     Jefferson City essay, ``And the history of this century 
     teaches a grim truth: When at peace the nation should always 
     assume that it may be living in what subsequent historians 
     will call ``interwar years.''
       But now I'd like to conclude my remarks so that we can all 
     enjoy these interwar years. (Pause) And I'd like to 
     especially thank Melody Green for her dedicated work as 
     President of the Navy League in maintaining what is 
     undoubtedly one of the strongest and closest ties between a 
     ship and her namesake city. I know that this visit is one of 
     the highlights of my naval career, and I think it is for my 
     crew here tonight as well. Knowing how much you support us, 
     and your warmth and friendship, makes us work a little bit 
     harder every day and puts a proud gleam in our eyes when we 
     say we are on the USS JEFFERSON CITY. On behalf of my crew, I 
     would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for your 
     wonderful hospitality, and your work as members of the Navy 
     League in keeping the United States Navy such that 
     generations to come can continue to enjoy such birthday 
     celebrations as we enjoy tonight. Thank you all very much.

                          ____________________