Missouri-Seal250The next USS Missouri will not be a ship. It will be a boat. That’s what they call a submarine like the new USS Missouri. It will be commissioned in Groton, Connecticut on the 31st.

If the new USS Missouri could be dropped into the University of Missouri Tiger football stadium, it would just barely fit. It’s 377 feet long. It’s the size of a World War II cruiser, weighing nine tons. And it packs more firepower with its cruise missiles than the Battleship Missouri did.

Chairman Sam Bushman of the USS Missouri Commissioning Committee says the boat is 21st century technology. It has no periscope, for example, but has a photonic mast that uses a camera to see what’s above water. The image appears on big screens in the control room. “Fantastic,” he calls it.

The committee has raised about $230,000 to pay for the commissioning ceremonies and related events, a little short of the $300,000 goal. The money also is being used to stock the sub library and add Missouri touches to make the sub feel more homelike.

AUDIO: Interview with Sam Bushman (19 min)