New Navy nuclear submarine to be christened 'Mississippi'

It may not look like much now, but a bit of Mississippi is taking shape in a cavernous hangar in Rhode Island.

The USS Mississippi, a nuclear-powered attack submarine named for the Magnolia State, is in pieces that look like enormous water tanks. Navy Capt. Michael Jabaley said when the $2 billion vessel officially enters the service four years from now, it will be part of a fleet of submarines designed specifically to respond to post-Cold War threats.

U.S. Navy Secretary Donald Winter earlier this year announced the naming of the submarine, much to Jabaley's delight. Jabaley, son of Madison residents Dr. Michael and Mary Jabaley, grew up in Jackson, graduating in 1980 from Murrah High School.

Next month he takes over as program manager for the Virginia-class submarine program, a 30-sub group that will include the new USS Mississippi, the fifth Navy vessel to carry the name.

"I didn't campaign for (the name), but I was very happy when it came out," Jabaley said.

Jabaley is excited, too, about the Mississippi and its kin, four of which already are in service. Unlike the prior generation of submarines, which were geared strictly toward missile-based cold warfare, the Virginias have a distinctly cloak-and-dagger feel about them.

While it will be armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, Jabaley said the USS Mississippi's real distinction is its ability to sneak up along coastlines in shallow water and conduct surveillance on an enemy or deposit Special Forces units, such as Navy SEALs, in relative secrecy. How close can the Virginia subs get?

"The specific depth that we can operate in is classified," he said. "But I will say there are very few places that we cannot go."

In short, the subs are cool. James Bond cool, he said.

They are not without their critics, however.

"Does Osama bin Laden have a secret submarine fleet nobody told us about?" The Los Angeles Times opined in May about the $92 billion cost for the Virginia class subs.

Jabaley said the subs really are designed to deal with American enemies old and new. Terrorist groups like al-Qaida have sophisticated intelligence networks and keep tabs on ground troops and surface fleets, "The one thing that they don't know," he said, "is when our submarines are there."

Jabaley said the Navy hopes the state will share in his excitement and participate in the traditional ceremonies associated with birthing a new vessel.

"Many states consider it an honor to have a Navy vessel named after them," he said. "We have several states campaigning long and hard to have vessels named after them."

Typically, groups associated with the ship's name spring up to organize commissioning ceremonies, he said. One such ceremony took place in May in Wilmington, N.C., for the new USS North Carolina, another Virginia-class sub.

According to tradition, the Navy assigns each new ship a sponsor who presides over its ceremonial beginnings. Often that person is the wife of a retired admiral or the daughter of a U.S. senator. Unlike most, the USS Mississippi's sponsor, Deputy Assistant Navy Secretary Allison Stiller, will know the ship inside and out.

Stiller, the executive in charge of the Navy's shipbuilding programs, said she is thrilled to be associated with the new submarine, even if her relationship to the state is a little tenuous.

Stiller's Mississippi experience dates back more than a decade ago when she was working in then Sen. Trent Lott's office as part of an executive development program. As part of the program she spent about four months working around the shipyards of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

She said she is ready for the commitment of sponsoring the vessel through its expected 30-plus year life span, which traditionally includes being present for deployments and changes in command.

"I'm just tickled pink," she said.

She already has seen her initials carved into the skeleton of the submarine in a ceremony known as the laying of the keel. Stiller said she is looking forward to working with the state in preparing the ship's christening and its commissioning, the next steps as the sub prepares for its life in the Navy.

Jabaley said it's possible the USS Mississippi's commissioning will be on the Gulf Coast. That event likely will not come until the fall of 2012, but some of the state's officials already are feeling the pride.

"Naval vessels bearing the name 'Mississippi' date back to the early 1840s and serve as notable recognition of our state's significant contributions in military activities," Gov. Haley Barbour said in a statement. "To have the Navy's newest nuclear-powered attack submarine named Mississippi continues that strong, historic legacy and is something that makes us all proud."

Although it is being built more than 1,000 miles away, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said the namesake submarine is a "well-deserved tribute" to the state's tradition of shipbuilding.

To comment on this story, call Chris Joyner at (601) 360-4619.