Presidential Telegram

IT IS WITH EXTREME REGRET THAT I FIND MYSELF UNABLE TO BE PRESENT AT THE EXERCISES ATTENDING THE COMMISSIONING OF THE BATTLESHIP NORTH CAROLINA. IT HAS BEEN EIGHTEEN LONG YEARS SINCE THE LAST GREAT SHIP OF THE LINE, THE U.S.S. WEST VIRGINIA, JOINED THE UNITED STATES FLEET. TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THIS NEW AND GREAT MAN-O’-WAR I EXTEND CORDIAL GREETINGS AND ALL GOOD WISHES FOR A HAPPY CRUISE, A HAPPY SHIP. THROUGHOUT HER SERVICE MAY THE NORTH CAROLINA BE A SYMBOL OF PROGRESS THROUGH STRENGTH, AND A TANGIBLE EVIDENCE OF AMERICAN READINESS FOR ITS OWN DEFENSE. I KNOW SHE WILL HELP TO PROTECT THIS COUNTRY FAITHFULLY IN TRADITIONAL NAVY FASHION.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

Telegram sent by the President and read by the Commandant, Third Naval District, on the day of NORTH CAROLINA’s commissioning, 9 April 1941. Commissioning is the ceremony officially inducting a ship into the United States Navy.