[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 145 (Thursday, October 8, 2009)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E2500-E2501] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] HONORING REAR ADMIRAL WAYNE E. MEYER ______ HON. ERIC J.J. MASSA of new york in the house of representatives Thursday, October 8, 2009 Mr. MASSA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to laud the achievements, acumen, patriotism and long service to our country by RA Wayne E. Meyer, affectionately known as the ``Father of AEGIS.'' His service to our Navy and our Nation has been continuous since his enlistment as a midshipman recruit in 1943. He is best known as the founding project manager of the AEGIS Shipbuilding Project, which began building AEGIS cruisers in 1978. AEGIS destroyers are still being constructed today, and remain the world's most formidable multi-mission warships. The cruisers and destroyers in our fleet today are the direct result of Rear Admiral Meyer's leadership and dedication to his country. Admiral Meyer's life began far from the sea, in Brunswick, Missouri, in 1926. His family plowed the black earth in the ``gumbo'' region near the Missouri River, and, like so many other American families of that era, survived the Depression only through their determination and their indomitable spirit. When the Nation went to war in 1941, Wayne Meyer was only 15. He continued his schooling, but only days after his 17th birthday, with his parent's written permission, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve to serve his country. After graduating high school as his class president and valedictorian, the Navy called him to active duty as an apprentice seaman, and sent him to the University of Kansas' engineering school--part of President Roosevelt's ``V-12'' program. After an accelerated and exhausting 32 months, Wayne Meyer earned a B.S. in electrical engineering. Later that month, in February 1946, he was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and sent to M.I.T. for further schooling in the nascent fields of radar and sonar. His schooling later included atomic weapons training, a further graduate degree in electrical engineering, a master's in aeronautics and astronautics from M.I.T., the Navy General Line School and certification as a Navy Ordnance Engineer. His early years in the Navy were marked by extensive sea duty. He was ordered to Destroyer Radar Picket USS Goodrich (DDR 831), where he served as part of the occupation forces in the Mediterranean, service in the Greek civil war, and with part of the force supporting the creation of Israel in 1948. He was accepted for transfer to the regular Navy that year as well. Meyer was next posted in Chinese waters, where his ship, the light gun cruiser Springfield (CL 66), was in the mouth of the Huangpu River when Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist forces fell to Mao's Red Army in March 1949. He returned home to serve on a number of ships on Fleet Staffs--twice deploying in the destroyer tender USS Sierra (AD 16). He patrolled the Distant Early Warning line (extended) off Newfoundland as Executive Officer in the Radar Picket Strickland (DER 333). After a return to shore for more schooling, he was ordered to the guided missile cruiser Galveston (CLG 3) as Fire Control Officer and subsequently Gunnery Officer for her conversion as the first Talos cruiser, where he fired more Talos missiles than any other person. By the time he finished his sea duty, he'd served on seven ships and sailed the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. The next phase of Admiral Meyer's career was leading critical programs and facilities in the Navy's material establishment. In 1963 Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth chose then Commander Meyer to serve in the special Navy Task Force for the Surface Guided Missile Systems, under command of RADM Eli T. Reich, USN. His work at the Terrier missile system desk led to his appointment to lead the engineering effort to transition the entire Terrier fleet (30 ships) from analog to high speed digital systems. After turning down a destroyer command to continue this prelude to advanced weapons system design, he was appointed an Ordnance Engineering Duty Officer the same year he was selected for captain, 1966. He then served as the Chief Engineer at the Naval Ship Missile Systems Engineering Station, Port Hueneme, California. From this post he led the in-service engineering of the Navy's surface missile systems. Ordered back to Washington in 1969, he became the AEGIS Weapons System Manager in the Bureau of Ordnance, the most important phase of his career. It was here that Meyer's lifetime operational and engineering experience was put to the test. It would also require him to exercise what many know to be his unparalleled genius--organization and communication. Meyer's first major challenge was to make AEGIS work. That is-- develop and test a new area air defense system to protect the fleet from aircraft and cruise missile attack. By virtue of his ``double- hat'' as the Director of Surface Missile Systems in NAVSEA, he was also charged with keeping the existing fleet of Terrier and Tartar ships capable against ever more sophisticated Soviet threats. Those who worked for Meyer in those early days knew him as untiring, relentless, and driven towards success. They also knew him to be the consummate engineer--demanding back-ups for risky technologies and redundancy to ensure his system would work under even the most demanding conditions. After a number of land-based tests, the AEGIS Weapon System prototype was installed in the USS Norton Sound in 1974 for at-sea testing. Two more years of development and testing, following Meyer's mantra, ``build-a-little, test-a-little, learn a lot'' led to ``Super Sunday'' in 1977, when AEGIS detected, tracked and engaged two targets simultaneously. With such a powerful new weapon system in development, the Navy understood that it could be used for more than just air engagements, and in 1976 charged Meyer with developing the AEGIS Combat System. The combat system, which included the AEGIS Weapon System, would allow simultaneous multi-mission engagements against surface, air, and submarine targets, as well as strike capability. With his naval engineer's eye toward cautioned, prudent design, Meyer again demanded a stepwise approach to development, and thorough land-based testing before sending the system to sea. With these combat and weapon systems under controlled development, Meyer's next major challenge was to ``get AEGIS to Sea.'' Since the project began in 1969, the ship to carry AEGIS had been a hotly debated issue in the Navy, the Department of Defense, and [[Page E2501]] Congress. Meyer knew that he couldn't have his engineers constantly focus as the targeted ships changed each year, and thus instituted ``Superset.'' The ``Superset'' combat system would be the largest aggregation of capability under consideration for a single ship. If a less capable version were eventually authorized by Congress, ``down- designing'' would be easier than inserting new combat system features. When our democracy finished its great debate on the first ship to carry AEGIS, a highly modified version of the USS Spruance hull was the result. Christened by Nancy Reagan in 1981, and commissioned in 1983, the cruiser USS Ticonderoga was built on time, and slightly under budget. It was on the battle line in Lebanon only 9 months after its commission. Today, when our country seems to have difficulties building ships, we should remember that we have had great patriots like Admiral Meyer, who could lead the most complex of endeavors--and bring them in on cost and on schedule. But one ship does not a fleet make. Promoted to rear admiral in 1975, Meyer's third major challenge was to ``rebuild the Surface Navy''-- transitioning from a Terrier and Tartar cruiser and destroyer fleet to an AEGIS cruiser and destroyer fleet. Meyer knew it would be a long process, and would require schoolhouses, shore-based logistics, facilities for computer program maintenance, training, in-service engineering, and a host of other facilities and people to keep the new fleet ready. With his partner in the Chief of Naval Operations' Office, Vice Admiral James H. Doyle, Jr., he set out to build this supporting infrastructure, which keeps the fleet ready today. With 27 cruisers and 62 destroyers built or under construction, and more in planning, Admiral Meyer's vision of rebuilding the surface Navy is now complete. After retiring in 1985, Admiral Meyer's restless zeal has kept him thoroughly involved in our Nation's defense. He has chaired numerous Navy Advisory Boards, the Ballistic Missile Defense Advisory Committee, and remains a valuable counselor to those in our Navy as the ``Father of AEGIS.'' He has watched with special pride as his AEGIS fleet has been transformed into a critical arm of our Nation's ballistic missile defense system. With his guidance and mentorship, the process has again been, ``build-a-little, test-a-little, learn a lot,'' with a record of success unparalleled among the missile defense programs. His accomplishments and contributions to the defense of our Nation have been so numerous and far-reaching that the Secretary of the Navy named an AEGIS destroyer, DDG 108, the USS Wayne E. Meyer. She is to commission this October, an event that will no doubt be attended by thousands who have taken part in the ``AEGIS movement.'' In advance of that monumental event, I would like to thank Admiral Meyer for his more than 65 years of service to our Nation. I stand in awe of his achievements, his systems, his fleet, and his commitment to the excellence of our Navy. ____________________