The crash of a bottle of a 2001 vintage Missouri champagne against the steel hull of a new submarine tomorrow morning will officially attach the name of our state to a new Navy warship.

The newest USS Missouri will be a Virginia class submarine now under construction at Groton, Connecticut. The christening is tomorrow. Commissioning will come next summer when the ship is formally taken into the Navy.

A special committee in Missouri is raising 300-thousand dollars to make the submarine more welcoming for the crew and make the sub more representative of our state.

Committee chairman Sam Bushman says today’s submarine is far different from the subs in our movies—or the ones that are now museum pieces. “Everything’s computerized now,” he says, “It’s kind of Buck Rogers.”

The new USS Missouri will have 12 missile tubes, three decks and–unusual even for modern submarines–enough beds that each crew member can have his own.

This most recent USS Missouri is no longer part of the Navy. It’s operated by a private foundation at Pearl Harbor as a historic site.

Priddy interviews Bushman  7:44

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