Anduril Arsenal-2 Shipyard Remarks — October 6, 2026

Brian Schimpf, Anduril CEO, private speaker00:00Editorial summary: An event announcer introduced the next speaker at the Sparrows Point shipyard ceremony.

00:24Editorial summary: Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf described the new Arsenal-2 facility and the plan to expand the supply of major submarine components. He outlined bottlenecks in the existing industrial base, collaboration with Navy shipbuilders, software-led manufacturing, employment in Sparrows Point and production standards for naval systems.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy08:01Editorial summary: An event announcer introduced the next speaker at the Sparrows Point shipyard ceremony. Good afternoon, everybody. What a great day here in Baltimore. Distinguished guests, state and community leaders, industry partners, shipmates, and midshipmen.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy08:33I'm honored to be with you here today at Sparrow's Point. We are standing on ground which has anchored American maritime strength for more than a century. Eight decades ago, thousands of American workers answered our nation's call during the Second World War.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy08:51They bent steel day and night to build the cargo ships and tankers that sustained our arsenal of democracy. Today we face another decisive moment as we bring our industrial might to bear in an increasingly volatile strategic environment.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy09:10As a career submariner and former submarine force commander, I have total confidence our ultimate asymmetric advantage. Our guarantor of peace and deterrence and the capability our adversaries still fear the most is the United States submarine force.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy09:31Our Virginia class fast attack submarines and our upcoming Columbia class ballistic missile submarines are the most survivable, technologically dominant machines ever built by human hands. They are truly our ocean's apex predators. As other nations challenge the rules-based order that keeps our oceans free and open, we need the deterrence and denial of our submarines now more than ever.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy10:02At the same time, we must reckon with the fact we have lost industrial capacity. Today we start to rebuild it. As Director Submarine Programs, my charge is simple and uncompromising. Deliver high quality United States submarines to the fleet safely and on time.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy10:21To maintain our undersea advantage, we must reach and exceed a production cadence of one Columbia and two Virginia hulls per year, which we often call one plus two. This is not just a goal, it is an imperative.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy10:38Today we deliver about half of the tonnage we need. That is not a verdict. It is our starting line. Closing our production gap is not a problem the Navy can solve alone, nor is it a burden industry can shoulder alone.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy10:52It is a shared national priority. And that is exactly why we are standing here today. Arsenal 2 will play a significant role in meeting this challenge by adding capacity this enterprise does not have today.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy11:08So our prime builders, General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut and Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia can put more of their own skilled hands on the work only they can do. Final module outfitting, nuclear reactor integration, assembly, testing, and delivery.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy11:28Situated geographically between these two prime shipyards and connected to them by a network of sea, rail, and road, Arsenal 2 will take on the heavy component manufacturing. Initially... Critical components our prime shipyards need today, like precision torpedo tubes and impulse tanks, then moving on to complex, rafted module assemblies and endless possibilities to support future undersea dominance through the cutting edge technology and innovation this shipyard brings to the problem set.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy12:03Arsenal 2 will help us attack production bottlenecks with the footprint to add up to nine million production hours per year. Into our submarine supply chain, that's a 15 percent surge in total capacity. This is not a smaller business for our shipbuilders, it is a larger one.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy12:22More hulls through our prime yards, at better margin, improving with every boat as our workforce gets faster at the same work. That drives up our rate and ensures we meet and eventually exceed 1 plus 2.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy12:33Now, we will not win this race with just new technology and new buildings. Just as the submarine is nothing without a well-trained and resilient crew, our shipyards and industrial base rely on the skilled hands and dedication of the American worker.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy12:52Arsenal 2 will create over 3,100 high-skilled American jobs right here in Maryland. And as we've done in other states across the country, we will partner with Maryland to establish dedicated trades training centers to develop the next generation of precision see machinists.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy13:11Structural welders, metrologists, and quality inspectors. By pairing America's world-class trades artisans with advanced robotics, manufacturing-centric software, and artificial intelligence across every assembly blade, Arsenal 2 is a chance to show the world when we unleash American enterprise and American workers, nobody can outbuild or out-innovate us as we work toward our shared mission.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy13:39And today, that mission is clear. We must build our capacity, deliver our apex predators, and secure our undersea dominance for generations to come. To our industry partners, and to the workforce and civic leaders of Maryland, thank you for joining us on Team Submarine by stepping forward to help supercharge our production.

Robert M. Gaucher, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy14:01And thanks for the opportunity to highlight our key mission and how Arsenal 2 will help achieve us. Now, it's my great honor to turn the stage over to my fellow Naval Academy graduate

14:13from the class of 91 plus five.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary14:26Editorial summary: An event announcer introduced the next speaker at the Sparrows Point shipyard ceremony. My gosh, what kind of giant was standing here before? All right, well, good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon, Baltimore. Distinguished guests, community leaders of Baltimore, extraordinary men and women of our industrial workforce, sailors, and our midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary15:02Good afternoon. We stand on the future footprint of Andrews' Arsenal II facility. This is a landmark project that represents the ironclad cooperation. Between America's military and its industry. Around us lies a waterfront edged deeply in the history of American history and military triumph.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary15:22This city, in fact, is where the Star Spangled Banner was penned. But today, we're not just honoring heritage. We're putting it back to work with 21st century speed and lethality. No more legacy software or backlog production cycles.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary15:41It means having modern commercial technology at scale. Our enemies have shown their hand. Robotics and autonomous systems will be central in future conflicts. As you know, the Secretary of War announced last week the establishment of the Autonomous Warfare Command, and the Navy is ready to lead the charge in modernizing autonomous warfare.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary16:04I established the Robotics and Autonomist Systems Warfighting Development Center, serving as the Navy's dedicated hub for executing Secwar's vision. And the United States Naval Academy is also pairing with us in order to make sure our midshipmen, the future leaders of America, are in tune with what we're doing at the RASWIDIC.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary16:24The future of the U.S. Navy will combine the strength of its manned fleet with the reach and affordability of robotic and autonomous systems. Using unmanned systems for low-end missions will free our ships and sailors to take care of the high-end operations.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary16:39We are incorporating remote and autonomous systems into our fleet. And accelerate pace and scale. You can ask the Iranians. The use of unmanned systems is changing the character of warfare. And I know Andrew will be delivering for the Secretary's vision and the Navy's mission to protect our nation's security.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary16:59Arsenal, too, will build submarine components, modules, and other undersea warfighting capabilities for the Navy. The $6.6 billion initiative will inject hyperscale Automation. Warf. Robotics, and sensor systems directly into naval production. It represents a bold new age.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary17:21This is America's era of transformational change, an agile partnership between Navy and Anderl that breaks through bureaucratic red tape and moves at the speed of modern combat. This facility will be a vital linchpin in our overarching naval strategy.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary17:40Under President Trump's visionary leadership, Our mandate is clear. We are building the Golden Fleet. The Golden Fleet is a maritime force designed to dominate the seas, project overwhelming power, and guarantee maritime supremacy for the next century, just as the Great White Fleet did 100 years ago.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary18:00We are restoring America's dominance and bringing maritime golden age. The Golden fleet cannot rely solely on the halls of yesterday. It demands a technological superiority of tomorrow. By pairing. The future of naval supremacy will belong to the other side on the side that masters autonomous systems, super intelligence, power decision making, and precise fires at scale.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary18:35That is why Anderl here at Arsenal 2 will be the cutting edge in naval warfare. Anderle brings forward a proven track record of unmanned vehicles, rocket motors, and autonomous vessels, mass-producing autonomous systems, deploying...

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary18:50Battle-tested, super- intelligence-enabled software, engineering exquisite sensors, and supporting next-generation kinetic weapons. Through this facility, we will turn raw data into tactical dominance. By pairing super- intelligence with high-throughput manufacturing, Arsenal 2 will produce smart and affordable combat platforms at speed.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary19:13None of this happens behind a desk in Washington, D.C. It happens right here. Through the power of our Maryland partners, the state of Maryland, Baltimore County, and our local trade and labor partners are charging ahead.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary19:27With civic leadership, American industry, and our military standing shoulder to shoulder, nothing can stop us. This project will immediately inject economic viability into the region, generating over 3,100 high-skilled jobs right here in Baltimore.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary19:46The future of American shipbuilding. And the power of President Trump's golden fleet will strengthen America's middle class. These are careers for software engineers, algorithm architects, machinists, sensor technician, roboticists, fabricators, all earning great wages while actively defending our great nation.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary20:05And to understand exactly who they will be working for, look across this field right here. There's 100 sailors and 200 midshipmen, again, the future leaders of America. And from my own alma mater. The greatest school in the world, the United States Naval Academy.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary20:23Beat Army! Every unmanned vessel, every smart sensor, every precise weapon, and every line of autonomous code engineered at arsenal two is being built directly for those sailors in midship and sitting right there and the future sailors and marines that will man our fleet.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary20:43Andrew will be making these systems for you to be the most lethal warfighters possible and you, Andrew, will give the United States Navy the decisive edge in maintaining and maritime superiority. We're delivering systems that will hunt threats before the crews can even see them.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary21:01We'll strike adversaries before they can react. We'll bring the war fighters home safely to their families. That is how we're strengthening the Navy. That is we take care of our sailors' Marines. That is advanced 21st-century shipbuilding, and that is how defend the American homeland.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary21:17To our allies around the globe, Arsenal 2 sends a message of unbreakable American commitment. To our Esprit series. Let this ground break can be a clear message to you. American technological machine is fully awake, fully armed and ready to fight.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary21:34You can run, but you only die tired. But you know what? You piss us off, we're gonna sneak into your country in the middle of night and snatch you and your wife while you sleep in your beds.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary21:44It's time to push the throttle forward to the firewall. So let's burn the code, let's bend the metal, let's strengthen the Navy and let's build the golden fleet. We will now take a short break.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary21:55While we wait for another decorated combat veteran, unfortunately, he's from the Army, but he is a champion for our war fighters, the Secretary of War, followed by our Commander-in-Chief, the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald J.

Hung Cao, Acting U.S. Navy Secretary22:08Trump. Thank you all for being here today. God bless the United State Navy and the United Sates Marine Corps, and may God bless United States of America.

22:15Semper Fi and Huyang.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary22:26Editorial summary: An event announcer introduced the next speaker at the Sparrows Point shipyard ceremony. How we doing? Sailors, how we doing? There we go. Well, it's great to be here. And greetings, please take a seat.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary22:53Greetings from the War Department, where wokeness and weakness are out and recruiting is up, because we're focused on the core elements of reviving the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, and reestablishing deterrence, which President Trump has demanded of us.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary23:11And part of rebuilding that military is bringing us right here. This beautiful day. You know, our first commander in chief once wisely said that without a decisive naval force, we can do nothing definitive.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary23:26But with it, George Washington said, we can everything honorable and glorious. Well, this current commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump, I know because I hear it every single day, feels the exact same way, the honorable and glorious use of our naval forces.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary23:45You see, in order to make America great again, you need to make your Navy great again which he has done before and is doing again. You need to makes ship building great again. Our manufacturing great again our defense industrial base strong and robust again.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary24:00Our ports, our ships, our autonomous submarines. From day one, President Trump has demanded from the War Department speed, scale, and urgency to build an arsenal of freedom befitting our warriors and considering the threats of the 21st century.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary24:18And that's why today we're here to proudly announce construction of the largest U.S. Shipyard since World War II. Subs in torpedo tubes of the future. Because President Trump rejects the globalist, defeatist status quo of decline, that America is just going to become like any other nation.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary24:47No. He demands peace through strength. That peace through strong requires military power. It requires naval power, which has been on full display across the globe for the better part of two years. And because President Trump demands it, and our war fighters deserve it, we invest.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary25:04We grow we build all made in America. American manufacturing, American power, American strength, and American jobs, an arsenal of freedom, all for victory on the battlefield and to enable peace right here at home.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary25:22America first, ushering in the new golden age to include a beautiful new golden fleet. So it's a pleasure to be here today to lead this War Department and have the opportunity to ensure that American strength for this term and years to come is maintained because we are built to ensure it happens.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary25:43Not just because we have the best sailors on the planet, but because we're equipping them in rapid form with the best equipment the world has ever seen. And I've never seen a Commander in Chief, certainly, in our lifetime.

Pete Hegseth, U.S. Cabinet secretary25:55Move this quickly with this kind of urgency, ensuring our companies deliver on behalf of warfighters. He expects it, and we're going to do it. So ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce to you today our Commander-in-Chief, the 45th and 47th President of the United States,

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States26:13Donald J. Trump. Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to be with you. I want to congratulate Pete Hegseth and doing such a great job. We had a thing called Venezuela, that went quickly, and we're doing extremely well in the Islamic Republic of Iran, very well.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States27:23They have no military. It's shot. The whole place is shot. And they were the evil one. They were the bully of the Middle East and not so much the bully anymore, but we have to finish up.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States27:35And it's only a question of which way, do we want to do it the nice way or the not so nice way? And pretty soon you'll find out. A very special hello to a brilliant group of people, brilliant men and women of Anduril Industries and the patriots of the greatest maritime power ever to dominate the seas, the United States Navy.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States28:00Thank you. And we're especially pleased to be joined by the talented midshipmen of the one and only US Naval Academy. That's a big deal. I remember, I had a lot of smart friends years ago, when I was in high school.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States28:25They wanted to go to the Naval Academy, they couldn't get in. I said, you're not smart enough to get in, too bad, isn't it? And it's only gotten tougher. So I congratulate you. I want to give a special salute to the sailors aboard the USS Billings, who have just returned from a deployment to the Caribbean, where they helped decimate the cartel terrorists and delivered 77,000 pounds of lifesaving aid to the people of Venezuela.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States28:54And we're getting along great with Venezuela. We're taking out billions and billions of dollars of oil. We've paid for that voyage, that little voyage we made, many, many times over. You don't hear that much anymore in this country.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States29:10But to the victor belong the spoils, right? An old-fashioned expression that we've brought back. But I'd like to give a very big round of applause to those people; they have done a fantastic job and thank you very much.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States29:31To all members of our armed forces, please be at ease also, just relax, take it easy, because this is fun for me to do. I love to see this. I love you people; you're the best anywhere in the world, you're the best.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States29:43It's really a lot of fun, so just enjoy it if you enjoy Trump, if you don't enjoy Trump -- by the way, I'm going around doing rallies. The Republican Party is starting to go right through the roof.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States29:56Somebody said today, I wonder why. Well, I started -- I had to get out; I had to do it. We had to explain what we're doing. There's never been a time like this in our country.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States30:04We have $21 trillion being invested, but we have to say it because the media doesn't like talking about that. I used to call them the fake news, but as president, I have to be a little more respectful of the media than that.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States30:18So now I call them the artificial news. I took artificial off the word intelligence, and I call it Super Intelligence, which is really, I think, much better. It's really much more accurate because it's really not artificial intelligence, it's super intelligence.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States30:35Artificial means fake, so I call them the artificial media, but let's not get into that. But we are doing like no country has ever done, $21 trillion and we're building plants, we're building everything.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States30:48Most importantly, we're building a military. We had $1 trillion, first time that's ever taken place, and we're going to be upping that a little bit with Pete and General Caine and all of the people that we meet with.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States31:03I rebuilt our military in my first term, and we've used it a little bit in my second term, and I'm very honored to have done it. What we've done is incredible, all for peace and all for goodwill.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States31:15Today, we're officially launching the construction of the largest new shipyard in the United States, this is since World War II there's been nothing like what we're doing today. The workers of Baltimore and the shipyard here at Sparrows Point have been a vital part of the American industrial strength for literally over 100 years.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States31:37And along these very shores, American tradesmen built one of the first frigates in the US Navy; they forged the steel that built the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. And this is where the patriots of Baltimore built the first ever Liberty ship in the Second World War.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States31:56This is a tremendous history I flew over it just now, and boy, it's a great piece of -- being a real estate developer initially, always have, I said, that's a nice piece of real estate.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States32:07And it's big; this is going to be some big yard. When I came into office for my second term, less than two years ago, this national treasure was abandoned and it was totally forgotten.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States32:20But it's not forgotten any longer. In a tremendous victory for our country and for the city of Baltimore, Anduril is investing $3.7 billion in a state-of-the-art shipyard that will be known forever as Arsenal-2.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States32:36It's one of the most -- one of the biggest and one of the most significant shipyards I think soon, very soon will be -- anywhere in the world will be as significant as any.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States32:48That's what we're looking for. Right here in Sparrows Point you'll build the next generation of American submarines, including autonomous subs, torpedo tubes, and critical components for our cutting-edge Virginia class attack submarines, the greatest and quietest ever built.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States33:06And thanks to record funding from my administration, the Republicans in Congress, the US Navy is also contributing an additional $2.9 billion to support this shipyard, with the possibility of ultimately, together with a lot of great patriots, $21 billion in future purchases.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States33:27This is going to be a big component for our future military. This massive project will create over 3,100 new jobs right here in Maryland and will support an additional 11,000 jobs across the nation.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States33:42And I love the idea of the autonomous sub. Who ever heard of autonomous? It just makes sense because I wouldn't -- I'm not sure that I would have the courage to go into submarines too much.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States33:52You guys love them, but me? I'd rather be floating on the sea, so I like the idea of an autonomous sub all down there by itself, but just as accurate. I mean, it's incredible what they can do.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States34:04I saw some research and development papers on it, it's unbelievable. The things that we're coming up with over the next five-year period, nobody would ever believe it's even possible. So, autonomous subs is one of them.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States34:18And in the ultimate proof of our commitment to ensuring the shipyard's enduring success, American taxpayers will receive a 40 percent stake in the new shipyard. We get 40 percent. And the storied grounds of Sparrows Point will never fall silent again.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States34:35There's a tremendous amount of activity going on even now, it's just starting but even now. So, I want to thank everyone who made this day possible, including Anduril founder, a friend of mine, Palmer Luckey.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States34:48And I want to thank Palmer, he's a great guy, a very brilliant guy. CEO Brian Schimpf; COO Matt Grimm; president and chief strategy officer, Christian Brose; president and chief business officer, Matthew Steckman; along with the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States35:06You know, we changed the name to Secretary of War. We had great victories with Secretary of War, and then somebody became politically correct. See, I think it's actually politically incorrect and they said, Secretary of Defense, we like Secretary of War much better.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States35:22But I want to thank Pete and the Deputy Secretary of War, Steve Feinberg, who has done a fantastic job, he's a brilliant guy. He was actually a billionaire, made billions of dollars and he just -- from the first day I knew him, all he wanted to do was be in the military.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States35:38He would have been much better as a general or an admiral. He would have given up all of his money to be a general or an admiral. I always say there's a guy that's a rich guy, and the only one he respects are the generals and the admirals.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States35:52He likes the military, and he's done a fantastic job. But it's really -- we call it the Pentagon's Deal Team 6 -- Deal Team 6, a little cute, a little cute. Thanks as well to a great Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, who's sitting right up here in the very blinding sun.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States36:11How are you doing? OK, it looks like the sun's right smack in your face. Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, who is fantastic, he's done a job. We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ?

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States36:28He's going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion. He's got some great things happening. Acting Secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, who everyone loves; director of submarine programs, Admiral Rob Gaucher; and superintendent of the US Naval Academy, General Michael Borgschulte.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States36:52We also have Baltimore Ravens star -- oh, ho, ho, these guys are making a lot of money; they're doing very well. I think they're 3 and 1 or something like that, they're doing good.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States37:01Ravens star Marlon Humphrey, Tyler Loop, Ryan Eckley and Nick Moore. Could you stand up? You guys are such big stars, where are you guys? There they are. Good looking guys. Let me ask you.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States37:20You know, I sort of -- he sort of looked coach like. And I said, tell me, is he a coach. They said, no, he's the snapper. You know, nowadays those long snappers -- they're very valuable.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States37:31It's an amazing job you do with that, and he's got an unblemished record. How far is that? Like 10 yards deep or more? 15 yards and he throws strikes, he throws strikes. I don't know how the hell you do it.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States37:46So, he's got a little gray hair I noticed but, you know, they don't care. They want him for one play. They want him for one play. You look damn good, too. Thank you. Congratulations.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States37:55What a team you have. You have a great team this year. And say hello to your quarterback; he's a little bit injured, but -- and tell him I know his mother. I met his mother a few times in Palm Beach and she's a fantastic, beautiful woman.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States38:07But give him my regards, he is some player. You'll have a great year. Thank you. Thank you, fellas. And what we're doing this afternoon is part of a dramatic turnaround for America and our defense industrial base.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States38:19The United States once built -- I mean, think of it, not so long ago, we built as many as four ships a day. Who would believe that? But more recently, it's taken an average of seven to 15 years.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States38:38There's something going on; same people, same everything. You know, I just got back from a trip, we made a speech at Peterbilt, it's a truck company. They make -- among the finest trucks in the world, the big ones, the big haulers.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States38:52And they had some of them on display that we've all seen on the roads. Peterbilt, a very fine company. And I said to the boss, they're doing well they're expanding. I was there because they're doing this billion-dollar expansion beyond that.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States39:08I said, how many trucks do you make a day, would you say? Or a week or a year, what is it? What -- how many do you build? He said, 200. I said, 200 a year?

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States39:19He said, no, 200 a day. We build 200 trucks. I said, you got to be kidding, you build 200 -- we can do the same thing with ships. We used to do that. Think of it, 200 trucks, cabs, the engines, the whole thing, a day.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States39:34And I thought he was giving me false information, so I immediately checked it out, and he was exactly right. We could do the same thing with ships. We used to build, they say four.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States39:43I always heard we built one a day, but they're saying four a day. It's hard to believe, same country, more advanced, much more advanced. We build other things, but we're going to be back into building great, great ships.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States39:57And Anduril's Arsenal II will form part of the industrial backbone of the 21st century of the United States Navy, and it will be known really as the Golden Fleet. This is the golden age of America.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States40:10We're doing numbers that nobody ever thought were possible. We're doing the biggest numbers economically that we've ever done in the history of our country. You know, in my first term, we had the best economy that we've ever had.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States40:24It was interrupted by COVID at the end, but we had the best numbers even with that. We left with a stock market that was higher than it was at the beginning. It was the highest stock market up until that time, and now we have 81 times in a little more than a year and a half, 81 all-time stock market highs, the highest price, if you look at your 401-Ks, we are higher than at any time, over $45,000 more on average value.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States40:52That's in a very short period of time. But the big thing is $21 trillion being invested by others into our country. There's never been a country that's even close to that. The highest number was $3 trillion, and we're at $21 trillion.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States41:09And that's building factories all over the country. It's building plants. Our drug industry is coming back. Our car industry is coming back. They're leaving Canada, they're leaving Mexico, they're leaving Japan and Germany, South Korea.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States41:25We're building car plants. So we didn't build a car plant for 44 years in this country; now we're building more car plants than we ever have in history. It's all because of my favorite word, my fourth favorite, maybe my fifth, tariff.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States41:39Without tariffs, we wouldn't be doing that, even though the election was a big runaway, even though the election was great but that has something to do with it, obviously. But the word tariff for us has made us a rich country again and rich in a lot of ways.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States41:55We ended eight wars -- I ended eight wars. We haven't ended Russia, Ukraine yet. I'm working on that one. That one I thought would be the easiest one for me but we've ended eight wars and that's going to happen too pretty soon.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States42:07A lot of people dying in that war, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous what's happened, but it's -- believe it or not, it doesn't look it, but it's actually getting closer. But the word tariff, when you build here, you don't pay anything.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States42:21If you build your product in another country and you think you're going to send it in here and take our jobs and just send it in like nothing happened, not going to happen. So we charge 25 percent, 50 percent, 100 percent, 200 percent, all different numbers for different products.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States42:38But we have the chip industry moving back into our country. We should have never lost it. We lost it Taiwan mostly, almost everyone did. Taiwan's got a big part, about almost 100 percent of the market.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States42:47But we lost it. We let them take it away like we were babies. But I said it's my favorite word and I got in big trouble. Look at all the press. There's so many press.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States42:58They're lovely people. But what happened is I said tariff is my favorite word in the dictionary. I love tariff. It's going to make America rich again, which it's doing. And they just really went after, what about God, what about wife, what about family, what about children?

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States43:19So I make it now my fifth favorite word and I'm OK. I'm -- I'm in good shape. But our country is becoming rich again, really rich because of that. And we have more factories, plants.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States43:31Our whole medical and pharmaceutical business is pouring back into our country. Howard would tell you that. Russell will tell you that. It's all coming back. Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, they're all building massive, hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of plants all over the country because we learned that from COVID, we didn't make our farmers -- we didn't make our drugs, it was made in China and lots of other places, Ireland, all over Europe.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States43:59We didn't make our drugs. They're all coming back. And if they don't, what happens is, I give them a little time and after that they have to pay a little tariff, then they have to pay a little bigger tariff.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States44:11Then if they still don't have it after a year and a half, they pay a big tariff and if they don't have it after two years, they pay a real big tariff. So they're all building, every one of them.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States44:19It's pretty simple, although a lot of people haven't figured it out. Maybe they still don't understand. But the numbers are bigger than anybody -- any country has ever had by far, not even close.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States44:30We're leading on super intelligence, and we're leading by a lot. And as you know, I had President Xi here a few days ago. We get along great. It's nice to get along great with others, but we get along very good and we have great things going with them.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States44:48It's better than not having a relationship. We have a very good -- we've had -- always had a good relationship, but we're making a lot of money with China. But my administration has already secured over $76 billion in funding for shipbuilding to produce more than 80 new ships for the Navy and Coast Guard.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States45:06And we're doing other things to get new ships that will really speed up the process, because we need ships, and we're doing things that are a little bit different. We're going to have the finest ships anywhere in the world.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States45:17With the help of everyone here today, America is going to remain the undisputed naval superpower of the world. You know what I call the, uh, when -- when I see the wall of steel, which is what it is that we've done, they call it a blockade, I call it the wall of steel, not one ship has gotten through to Iran.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States45:39The only ships that go through are the ones that we let go through. And it's had a huge impact. That's why their nation's failed financially. They're a failed nation. Everyone's quitting, everyone's leaving. They're not paying their military, they're not paying their police, they're not paying anybody.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States45:53They're a mess, but we still have to finish it off. Our Navy is leading the way in ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon and that's something we've been saying, that will never happen.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States46:06That will never happen. That's already a fait accompli. Our great sailors and naval aviators fought heroically to annihilate their military. They have no air force. Their air force is gone. Their navy is gone.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States46:22They have 159 ships. Every one of them is right now at the bottom of the sea, lying at the bottom of the sea. Their radar is gone. Their anti-aircraft equipment is all gone. Their missile and drone manufacturing capacity is way down.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States46:38It'll soon be gone. We know exactly where the rest of it is. Their economy is in ruins. They have inflation like no other country anywhere in the world. And the man who left the other day said, I'm leaving because our country is finished.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States46:54That's what he said. I don't know, I don't take anything for granted, but they're not doing well. And thanks to the men and women of America's armed forces, dozens of Iran's terrorist leaders have been blown out of existence and straight through to the gates of hell.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States47:12As you know, their leaders are gone. Their second group of leaders are gone. And the biggest problem I have is nobody knows who the hell is running the country. Nobody knows, but maybe that's a good thing.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States47:28But you remember Khamenei, they're all gone. And, uh, here we are. We're going to -- we're doing things that nobody's ever done before. As an example, this country should have been taken care of.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States47:44We're into 51 years now, the bully of the Middle East. So this should have been done a long time ago by other presidents or other countries, doesn't have to be us. It's always us.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States47:53It should have been done by other countries long ago, because with time, it just got worse. But we've done a job, and frankly, I get calls all the time from the leaders of the world thanking me very much.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States48:05I said, good, when are you going to pay for it? He said, thank you, sir, for doing such a good job. And I'll say to him, that's great, you want to send some ships?

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States48:14Sir, I would rather not get involved. They don't have any ships. We're really holding up the whole world. It's on our shoulders. And we love doing it -- in a certain way, we love doing it because we've gotten stronger and others have gotten weaker.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States48:27They've just gotten weak, they've gotten ineffective, and we're doing things that nobody else, no nation could ever have done. We have the strongest military anywhere in the world. We have the greatest military equipment anywhere in the world, and it's not even close.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States48:44Our patriot systems, our tomahawks, our ships, our submarines, we are so far ahead of -- Russia's number two, but we're 15 years ahead of them in terms of submarine development and we've just started, when you hear about autonomous and all the other things I've seen today.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States49:01The United States Navy is enforcing one of the most effective and impenetrable blockades in history. Nobody's ever seen a blockade like that, with no ships, zero -- getting in. Every once in a while they'll do a run, and they'll either hit the cabin -- if it's got oil, they'll hit the cabin or they'll hit the rudder.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States49:22If it doesn't have oil, we just sink the ship. Yet oil shipments from outside of Iran, right now they're back to almost higher than they've ever been. In other words, the Hormuz Strait belongs to the United States Navy and the United States of America.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States49:41That's where it belongs, and that's where it is right now. With all of that being said, we don't need their oil. Others need their oil and they need it badly. But we're getting it out and we're getting it out at record levels.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States49:53Our Navy is also ending the bloody reign of drug cartels and savage foreign gangs here in the Western Hemisphere. Drugs coming in by ocean and sea are down 97 percent. That's -- you know, for the great football players, they watch this.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States50:10They watch this. They -- anybody coming in by sea who's working one of those boats, I consider them to be the bravest men maybe anywhere in the world because those boats are being knocked out.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States50:24They used to -- they call it interdict. They used to grab them and bring them to a court in Miami or Texas, and they'd be out the following day bringing drugs back into our country.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States50:34Now we take out the boats. Think of it. Drugs -- fentanyl is down by sea, by ocean and sea, by the Gulf of America, the Gulf of America, not Mexico. That was a little rough time when I did that.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States50:48I got a call from the president of Mexico. No, no, President. She's a very nice woman, beautiful woman, beautiful voice. And she said, no, no, President, very elegant, please, please tell me it's not so.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States51:02It's so. I'm sorry, ma'am,. It's so. We changed the name from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. It is so. I'm sorry. And no, no, but it's just one of those things.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States51:14I always felt it. You know, it didn't take long. It was sort of amazing. We have 93 percent of the coastline. They have 7. And it never made sense to me that was called the Gulf of Mexico.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States51:27During their recent deployment, the sailors aboard the USS Billings alone helped intercept nearly three tons of illegal narcotics from the cartels, saving countless lives. And with the Navy's support, we captured the outlaw known as the dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and won the war in exactly 148 minutes.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States51:52They don't talk about that. They say, oh, we're in for -- six months into Iran. Yeah, Iran's bigger. But we really ended it as soon as the B-2 bombers hit, because that was the end of their nuclear.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States52:02And that was 95 percent of the reason we did it, maybe 100 percent. This fearless, confident and strategic use of American power shows why we're investing so heavily in the shipyards and Navy of the future.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States52:17We want to maintain America's unmatched capability and freedom of action for all future generations. Last year, I proudly signed into law a record setting defense budget, and this year it's going to be 1.5 trillion.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States52:31I believe I'm -- I don't want to speak too early, but we broke the trillion mark and we're going to be at 1.5. At the same time, we're cutting costs of other things which are wastes.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States52:41But we're going to have new ships and drones and aircraft and missiles and everything. Our equipment is the most advanced. And by the way, the drones, people are saying about drones that other countries have not -- our drones are superior to anything.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States52:56When you see the new set of drones, you're not going to believe it. It -- the most superior drones anywhere in the world. It's not even close. But most importantly, it's all very proudly stamped and made in the USA.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States53:09We stamp it made -- everything is stamped made in the USA. We're fighting to include a hard earned pay raise for every sailor, soldier, airman, Coast Guardsman, Space Guardian -- I love Space Force, that was my baby -- and Marine.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States53:26And of course, last year I also gave our service members a warrior dividend, we call it. It was supposed to be $1,775, 1775. And I sat and I looked, I'm getting ready to sign.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States53:41I said, well, do you know if you add $1 to it, it would be 1776? That means something. I said do you think -- I called up Russell Vought. I called up Howard Lutnick, called up my group.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States53:55Do you think we could find an extra dollar to make it 1776? I said I think we can do that. We made it, right? We made it 1776, and it was great. Everybody said, oh, we'll never be able to do that.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States54:08Well, we did it. We got it done. We made the payment. And now we're going to be giving $5,000 to every adult citizen of our country. And we'll be able to do it where the Democrats can't do it.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States54:21As you know, they won't be able to do it because they don't believe in wealth. They don't believe in tariffs coming in. They don't believe it. All the money that we have pouring in, it would be the exact opposite.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States54:31You'd end up in a -- you'll end up in a 1929 depression if they ever take over. So, less than two years ago, our country was laughed at by our enemies, but they're not laughing anymore.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States54:44They don't laugh at us anymore. They laughed at us. They thought we were stupid people. America is respected again. And I think they're respected -- I think we're respected like never before. A short time ago -- I said by numerous leaders, king of Saudi Arabia, many leaders said it.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States55:04Sir, a short time ago, we thought your country was dead, and now you have the hottest country anywhere in the world. We're the hottest country anywhere in the world. Since taking office, we've secured commitments for money that nobody's ever thought even imaginable.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States55:20There's never been anything like it. The Republic of Korea has given us $150 billion recently. That all goes into shipbuilding, and that was a way of buying down their tariffs. They want to buy down their tariffs.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States55:35I said you gotta pay for it. The Korean company Hanwha is spending billions of dollars to revitalize the historic shipyard in Philadelphia, big old shipyard, billions of dollars. Hadrian Manufacturing and the US Navy are investing 2.4 billion in Alabama.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States55:55Saronic is investing $3.2 billion in Texas to build a new shipyard on the beautiful shores of the Gulf of America. And we're buying icebreakers from Finland. We're making them with them and also buying them.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States56:08They specialize in icebreakers. That's all they do is they make icebreakers, and they build the best icebreakers. And we said come on, we want to know about that. We're building them ourselves with Finland, and we're buying a few because we need them badly.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States56:22With our combined efforts, this will be a golden age like no country has ever seen and like our country has never seen. But it'll also be a golden age of shipbuilding, and the workers at Arsenal-2 and Sparrows Point will be leading the way.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States56:38What we see today will be nothing when you come back in one year. And when you come back in two years, you're not going to believe what you see. Generations ago, these grounds hummed with the sound of hammers and saws, carving out some of the most beautiful wooden ships.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States56:54Think of it, wooden ships of the day, long time ago, much more than 100 years. Now with the men and women of Anduril, the workers of Maryland and the warriors of the US Navy, which is just a special, special group, this place will roar with the sound of high tech manufacturing, building ships and submarines that will be feared by our enemies all over the world.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States57:16They've got to be feared. They're going to be feared, respected and feared. With American hands, American heart and American grit, we will build the future of America's Navy right here in Baltimore, and it will be a future of peace through strength.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States57:37We have never been a stronger country than we are right now. We have never had a greater military. I believe we've never had greater leaders. Our country is doing better than it's ever done before.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States57:50We're the envy of the world, and we're going to keep it that way. I want to thank you all very much. God bless you all. God bless the US Navy. God bless the United States of America.

57:59Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.