It was a gray, cloudy day with a steady and penetrating rain. There was little wind and the water was smooth on the Thames River in Groton, Conn. A crowd of several thousand people had braved the weather Saturday to gather for a ceremony memorable in the life of any Navy ship — its christening.
Several hundred dignitaries gathered under a VIP tent to await the ceremony. Rep. Ike Skelton and Sen. Claire McCaskill from Missouri were among them along with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, senior Navy officers and civilian officials and corporate leadership from General Dynamics Corporation. On the opposite wall of the graving dock were men and women from Electric Boat (EB) Shipyard who had worked for about four years to build the ship now floating before them. Joining them were the families of the crew of the soon to be named Missouri.
Before this gathering “lurked” a smooth, sleek, black submarine. About 20 percent of the ship can be seen on the surface. Gleaming white mooring lines held the ship centered in the dock. Huge cranes could be seen around the nearby waterfront of the shipyard. To reach the area of the ceremony the crowd walked through a large modular assembly facility where Missouri had been assembled, piece by modular piece. Within that facility, well-covered for security reasons, were several hull sections of yet another submarine, Mississippi, undergoing construction and some two or so years behind the Missouri.
Missouri is to be the seventh ship of its class out of thus far 12 authorized for construction by Congress. All are part of the Virginia class of attack submarines. Missouri displaces about 7,700 tons of seawater while on the surface, has a highly trained crew of 137 officers and men, is 355 feet in length and carries at least 40 anti-submarine and anti-surface ship torpedoes and land attack cruise missiles. It can operate at speeds to allow it to “keep up” with American aircraft carriers and their assigned “battle groups” and range in great depths to seek to optimize its stealth.
Submariners will tell you there are only two kinds of ships, submarines and targets. Others in the Navy will, of course, disagree. America has never unleashed the true power of its dominant nuclear submarine force during war. However there is little doubt that working together, American submarines and aircraft carriers will control the seas and deny the use of the oceans to any adversary it chooses.
The USS Nautilus was the first nuclear submarine. It was commissioned 55 years ago at EB on the same waterfront as Saturday’s ceremony. Nautilus had to refuel by replacing its nuclear reactor during expensive and long overhaul periods once every two years. Missouri will operate for 30 years or more without having to refuel throughout its design lifetime. Such is the advance of technology.
Both Skelton and McCaskill spoke at the ceremony. As chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Skelton spoke of the importance of Missouri and other submarines. He also gave well-deserved credit to the civilian design and construction industries taking thoughts on drawing boards to the reality of what was seen during the ceremony.
Missouri was created as a direct result of industries throughout every one of these United States. Skelton pointed out how vital it is to preserve that capacity now and into the future. McCaskill echoed those thoughts as well as pointing out the real human treasure needed to design, build and operate such ships.
As long as America deems it necessary to maintain control of the oceans of the world, such men and women, both civilian and military, are vital to preserve that national objective. Both Skelton and McCaskill acknowledged that simple fact.
The ceremony to christen USS Missouri was essentially the same ceremony that produced USS Constitution, Old Ironsides. The first USS Missouri, a ship under both steam and sail power was christened in the 1840s. The second USS Missouri was placed in service by the Confederacy during the Civil War. The third USS Missouri was christened in the early 1900s and joined Theodore Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet. The fourth USS Missouri was christened in 1944, fought in WWII, held the ceremony for the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Harbor in 1945 and served as a launch platform for cruise missiles during the Gulf War in Kuwait.
No one present at the christening for the fifth USS Missouri can predict the future votes for that ship. While unlikely, it is possible that the fifth ship named Missouri may never have to fire a “shot in anger.” It should be noted that since the Nautilus, no American submarine has fired upon another ship nor, God forbid, launched a strategic ballistic missile carrying nuclear warheads. In the last 20 years such ships have launched cruise missiles at land based targets in the Mideast.
But the real worth of this new ship named Missouri will be its mere presence under the oceans of the world deters those that would seek to control those oceans. Previous nuclear submarines from 30 or 40 years ago held the Soviet Union at bay by their mere presence. It remains to be seen which potential adversaries in fact do not become adversaries in attempting to control the seas as a direct result of the newest USS Missouri, its officers and men and a few other ships just like her.
Anson Burlingame lives in Joplin. He is a retired U.S. Navy officer and served 23 years in the submarine force. He attended the christening of the USS Missouri on Saturday.
