Caudle and Perryman began the day at the headquarters of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet, where they met with command leadership and spoke with more than 400 Sailors during an all-hands call.
The visit provided the Navy's senior uniformed and enlisted leaders an opportunity to hear directly from Sailors while discussing the Navy's role in defending the homeland, strengthening partnerships and maintaining combat-ready forces capable of responding wherever and whenever the nation requires.
"Every Sailor in this room contributes to the combat power of our Navy," Caudle said. "Our nation depends on us to be ready to fight and win at sea, and that readiness starts with disciplined, well-trained Sailors who understand the importance of their mission. What you do every day matters to the security of our nation."
U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet conducts maritime operations in support of U.S. Southern Command and works with regional maritime partners throughout the Caribbean, Central America and South America to strengthen security and interoperability.
While in Mayport, Caudle and Perryman also visited the crew of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), which recently returned to its homeport following an almost nine-month deployment spanning three numbered fleet areas of operation.
During the deployment, Thomas Hudner operated in the U.S. 4th, 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation, taking the ship and crew from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean and Red seas. The demanding deployment demonstrated the ability of Navy ships and Sailors to move rapidly between theaters and provide combatant commanders with ready, flexible naval forces.
Caudle and Perryman thanked the crew for their service and recognized the sacrifices made by the ship's Sailors and their families during the extended deployment.
"What this crew accomplished is exactly why our Navy remains the finest fighting force in the world," Caudle said. "You took this ship across three fleets, operated in some of the world's most consequential waters and answered every task the nation gave you. That is what readiness looks like, and America is proud of you."
Perryman emphasized the people behind the ship's operational accomplishments.
"A warship is steel, weapons and technology, but Sailors are what make it a fighting force,"
Perryman said. "You spent months away from your families, stood the watch day after day and represented our Navy and our nation around the world. That kind of service deserves our utmost gratitude and respect."
Following their engagements in Mayport, Caudle and Perryman traveled to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, home to the Navy's East Coast sea-based strategic deterrent force.
There, they met with leadership and Sailors assigned to Commander, Submarine Group 10 and held their second all-hands call of the day.
Submarine Group 10 leads and synchronizes the efforts of "Team Kings Bay," ensuring submarines and their crews are properly manned, trained, equipped and certified to conduct operations around the world. The mission is central to one of the Navy's most consequential responsibilities: maintaining the nation's survivable sea-based nuclear deterrent.
"Strategic deterrence is a no-fail mission, and the Sailors of Team Kings Bay carry an extraordinary responsibility on behalf of our nation," Caudle said. "Every time one of our ballistic-missile submarines goes to sea, it reminds our allies, our partners and anyone who might threaten us that the United States is ready, capable and resolute. You stand a silent watch, but the message you send is unmistakable."
During the Kings Bay visit, Caudle and Perryman also toured modification to the waterfront and training facilities in preparations for the arrival of the Columbia-class ballistic-missile submarine program. The Columbia class will replace the Navy's Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines and serve as the sea-based leg of the nation's nuclear triad well into the second half of the century.
Kings Bay is simultaneously sustaining the Ohio-class force while preparing the installation, workforce and support infrastructure for the arrival of the Columbia class - a transition critical to maintaining uninterrupted strategic deterrence.
"The Columbia class represents an investment not just in a new submarine, but in the security of generations of Americans who will follow us," Caudle said. "We have an obligation to get this transition right, because credible sea-based strategic deterrence has helped keep our nation safe for decades, and it must continue to do so for decades to come."
Perryman said the transition also highlights the enduring importance of the Navy's people.
"We can build the most advanced submarine in the world, but it will still take talented, dedicated American Sailors to take her to sea," Perryman said. "Technology changes. Platforms change. But our greatest advantage has always been our people - Sailors who raise their right hand, serve something bigger than themselves and stand the watch so their fellow Americans can sleep safely at night."
The Mayport and Kings Bay stops continued a series of fleet engagements by Caudle and Perryman focused on connecting senior Navy leadership directly with Sailors and assessing the people, training, infrastructure and operational forces that generate Navy readiness.
For Caudle, the visits also underscored the connection between the Sailors serving at sea today and the Navy being built for tomorrow - from a destroyer recently returned from operations across three fleets to the submarine force preparing for the next generation of strategic deterrence.
"For 250 years, American Sailors have stood the watch, defended our freedom and carried our flag across the world's oceans," Caudle said. "Today that watch belongs to us. We owe the American people a Navy that is ready when called, lethal when challenged and worthy of the trust they place in us. Looking at the Sailors I met today, I know that watch is in good hands."
Built in the Foundry - Tempered in the Fleet - Forged to Fight.
