Rededication Ceremony

November 19, 2001

 Horizon :December 21, 2001 Issue

The Rededication ceremony of the Richard C. Cunningham Engineering Complex, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia, PA. was originally scheduled for Sept. 11. As a matter of fact, the crowd was gathering as the news of the Sept. 11 attacks rang. Because they did not want the honor to be overshadowed by events, Rear Admiral  William C. Cobb and Debra Cunningham, wife of Richard Cunningham, collectively  decided to postpone the ceremony.  During his address at the rededicaion on Nov. 19, Cobb reflected on the situation saying, “We tried to do this rededication on Sept. 11. This was a hard day for our country -a day in which we felt the sting of terrorism . . . “

“Let me first speak about Sept. 11 and what has happened since then. Obviously, our lives, as we know them, have changed. Everything we’re doing now is on a war-time footing, and let there be no doubt this is a war. This is a war that we’re going to win. . .”

“People like Richie Cunningham, who dedicated his life to the rigorous engineering that we need in our systems, are absolutely critical to that path of following peace and ridding the world of terrorists. The reason they are critical is because our young men and women who are 20, 21, and 22 must go in harm’s way and, when its time to take the fight to the enemy, you have to make sure the systems work. You know that they always work. “When its time to shoot  Tomahawks, and we need to get DDGs and Spruance class destroyers out there. . . no problem. It works. When its time for our submarines to do the same, their systems work. These systems work because of the dedication of the people in this room.  I see so many of you out here today that I know by name, and you work on the systems that we take to the Fleet. Every time we use these systems, they perform as they were designed to do.  “Richie, of course, was in the forefront of that great world class engineering expertise that you have up here in Philadelphia.  There’s nowhere in the world that has finer engineers and people working on our propulsion and other systems for ships and submarines, as they have right here in this room.  “You have sons and daughters, nieces and nephews who are serving in harm’s way. You want them to come back alive.  So you’re dedicating every bit of your professional lives to making these systems the best they can be.”