CNO remarks to Navy Submarine League Pacific Southwest - as prepared
San Diego 2/13/26
Good afternoon, everyone! It’s great to be back in Point Loma in America’s finest city! My wife Donna and I got married here 21 years ago and it always brings back fond memories. The weather, the fleet concentration area, and most of all the people.
Bruce - I want to thank you and your team at the Pacific Southwest Navy League for putting this together and getting all of us in one room to talk about our beloved submarine community, and anything else you want to discuss today.
I see that my good friend VADM Robert Thomas is in the crowd. For those that don’t know, Admiral Thomas was my commodore when I was at Squadron 11 and attended my wedding too. Great to see you again, sir.
It’s genuinely great to be in a room full of people who understand, better than anyone, what it means to operate quietly, independently, and with absolute trust in the Sailors to your left and right.
I don’t say this lightly—there is no group I enjoy speaking with more than submariners, especially retired ones, who have seen the evolution of our beloved force.
You’ve earned the right to tell sea stories, offer unfiltered advice, and remind the rest of the Navy how this force really learned to operate and fight under pressure.
It’s also good to see some active-duty submariners in the audience from the San Deigo waterfront who operate our 688 submarines (my favorite submarine) that continues to be the workhorse of the Force.
Thanks for what you do each day.

Let me start with the obvious point that everyone in this room already knows—but sometimes the nation forgets.
Submarines have always been and remain foundational to our maritime advantage.
In a world of increasingly contested domains, submarines give the Joint Force something irreplaceable: uncertainty for our adversaries and assurance for our allies.
When a submarine is on station, it changes the calculation - without firing a shot, without making a broadcast, and without needing an escort.
As CNO, I depend on our Navy programs and platforms in order to ensure we land the budget correctly. Submarines are something that all levels of leadership respect and demand more of - in those budget and strategy discussions.
From the White House, throughout the Pentagon, to Congress there is a great deal of alignment on the value of our Submarine Force to the Joint Force and around the world.
And let me tell you, our submarines are always on station. This year alone, multiple ships have returned home safely from demanding operations in the Indo-Pacific. Most recently here in San Diego, we had USS GREENEVILLE under the leadership of CDR Chad Tella return from a very successful deployment.
Others have supported maritime security and counter-illicit trafficking missions in places like the Caribbean - delivering real effects in highly unique missions – demonstrating the all-purpose value of our submarines.
At the same time, our shipyards are delivering - returning submarines like the USS CHEYENNE, back to the fleet… extending operational availability and putting real combat power back in the hands of Fleet Commanders.
Additionally, one of our guided-missile submarines also took part in Operation Midnight Hammer in which it launched Tomahawk missiles, significantly damaging Iran’s three nuclear sites.
This does not happen by accident. It is the result of decades of discipline, technical excellence, and a culture that prizes accountability and humility.
That culture is your legacy.

Today’s Joint Force depends on submarines more than ever before.
Whether it’s holding targets at risk deep inland, enabling freedom of maneuver for carrier and expeditionary forces, supporting cyber and space effects, or setting the conditions for deterrence long before a crisis breaks into the open…submarines are integrated into every serious operational plan we have.
And increasingly, our combatant commanders don’t ask if submarines are part of the solution - they ask how many and how soon.
That demand signal is only getting stronger.

Let me shift gears for a moment and talk about how I think about fighting the fleet - because that matters to a room like this too.
Yesterday, at the Naval War College, I rolled out the U.S. Navy Fighting Instructions. These instructions are not slogans. They’re guidance and direction for how we prepare, posture, and fight - starting now, not when the first shot is fired.
At their core, they’re about three things: warfighting readiness as the core of our differentiated value, operational initiative and fungibility, and implementing an Enhanced Mission Command Framework.
If that sounds familiar - it should. We invented and honed these principles over our existence.
Those principles were forged in the submarine force long before I earned my dolphins.
In a conflict, submarines will not be waiting for permission or reach-back about what to do next.
They will be forward. They will be integrated with the Joint Force. And they will be executing mission-type orders in environments where communications are degraded and timely decisions must be made at depth.
My expectation is simple: When a submarine deploys, it is ready on day one to transition from competition to crisis to conflict - without pause, without re-tasking, and without lowering our standards of quality or lethality.
That means we train the way we fight.
We empower commanding officers.
And we accept prudent risk to gain operational advantage.
Submariners are uniquely suited for this moment.
They operate independently by design and thrive in ambiguity.
And they understand that silence is often the most powerful weapon we have.
In many ways, the submarine force is not adapting to my Fighting Instructions.
It helped write them.

That mindset - forward, trusted, lethal - is exactly why AUKUS matters so much.
I’ll be very direct. AUKUS is one of the most significant strategic undertakings in the history of the submarine force - and in my view, one of the most consequential defense partnerships of our lifetime.
It’s not just about boats. It’s about shared deterrence, interoperability at the deepest levels, and a long-term commitment to peace through strength in the Indo-Pacific.
Later this year, the U.S. Navy will stand up Submarine Rotational Force - West, which will eventually reconstitute Squadron Three, in Australia.
That matters.
It means U.S. submariners operating forward, shoulder-to-shoulder with Australian and UK partners - sharing tactics, standards, maintenance practices, and trust.
It also sends an unmistakable message:
Our undersea advantage is collective, united, and formidable - and we intend to keep it that way.
You may have seen reporting about the Presidential review of AUKUS.
Let me reassure you - that review is on track, and it reflects what I see every day - a serious, disciplined effort that is delivering real progress.
We are aligned across the U.S. government, with Congress, and with our partners on workforce development, industrial base capacity, nuclear stewardship, and long-term sustainment.
This is hard work. It requires patience, honesty, and follow-through. But submariners know how to do hard things the right way - or not at all.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say this to a room like this: Platforms matter. Technology matters. Strategy matters.
But submarines have always been - and will always be - about people.
About the young officers learning command presence at depth, Chiefs who quietly keep the boat running, and Sailors who understand that forceful backup isn’t aspirational - it’s required.
Every Sailor I meet today is standing on the shoulders of those who came before them.
They inherit your standards. They inherit your pride. And they inherit your refusal to cut corners.
I’ll close with this.
The undersea domain is no longer a niche area of operations - it is central to deterrence, competition, and conflict.
And if we continue to invest in our submariners, our partnerships, and our values, the United States Navy will remain the world’s premier undersea force.
That didn’t happen by accident.
It happened because of leaders and pioneers like you.
Thank you for your service, for your leadership, and for everything you continue to do to support today’s Navy.
And thank you - for always reminding us what right looks like.

Military News | Navy News | CNO Remarks San Diego Feb. 2026