New Sub Forces Commander - Spirit Of John Paul Jones Survives

Since 07-14-04

From NSL UPDATE 10-21-2003

New Sub Forces Commander: Spirit Of John Paul Jones Survives

Vice Adm. Kirkland H. Donald Takes Over In A Busy Time For Sub Fleet

By Robert A. Hamilton, New London Day Used with Permission.

Mashantucket - To mark the Navy's 228th birthday, the new commander of Naval Submarine Forces, Vice Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, recounted the tale of John Paul Jones in the Bonhomme Richard, locked in combat with the more heavily armed British man-o-war Serapis, in the Revolutionary War. At one point the commander of the Serapis signaled over to the battered Bonhomme Richards: would you like to surrender. Jones' famous reply was, "I have not yet begun to fight."

In one of his first major addresses as the overseer of submarine forces, Donald said he still sees that spirit today, in the young sailors crowded
into the ballroom at the Foxwoods Resort Casino where the Navy Birthday Ball was held, in the ships returning from the war, in the men and women on the waterfront preparing to deploy.

It was evident three years ago when terrorists exploded a suicide bomb against the USS Cole when it stopped to refuel in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors, wounding 39 others, and damaging the destroyer so badly it took a days-long effort to save it. It had to be brought back to this country on the back of a heavy transport ship.

Donald, who has done four tours at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, most recently as commodore of Submarine Development Squadron 12, said this month he attended a change of command ceremony in Norfolk, Va., and there at the dock was the USS Cole, repaired, refitted, "back in the fight." "Our sailors have the same honor, courage and commitment as the sailors who manned those vessels in the Continental Navy," Donald said.

And it is not just the men and women who sail the ships that make a difference, he said, it the people who support them, from the waterfront
repair shops, the health care clinics, the supply houses, and Electric Boat in Groton, which is in the final stages of delivering the special operations submarine Jimmy Carter and the next-generation attack submarine Virginia. "Not only will those ships revolutionize naval warfare, but they have revolutionized shipbuilding in this country," Donald said.

Perhaps most important to the Navy the sailors' families, who provide the men and women on the warships with the support they need to get through each deployment. All those groups, and more, Donald said, are "those people who made this great Navy great."

Donald said almost a year after assault on the Cole, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made the rest of the country realize the seriousness of the situation, and catapulted the United States into a new type of war. He also told the capacity crowd that the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan
is not as dire as has been widely reported. "Talk to the people who have been over there, the people in the country," Donald said. "It is a bright hope in the hearts of the people over there, as the seeds of liberty are sprouting ... we have to stay the course in the global war on terror."

"Peace and freedom," Donald said, "will prevail."