Member of Little Rock Nine christens nuclear submarine named for Arkansas

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The nuclear submarine USS Arkansas was christened Saturday, almost a decade in the making since the U.S. Navy announced that a Virginia-class submarine would bear the state's name.

Carlotta Walls LaNier, one the nine Black students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, launched a bottle of sparkling wine into the hull of the Virginia-class submarine at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.

In 2018, then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus named the six women of the Little Rock Nine as sponsors of the ship. Besides LaNier, Elizabeth Eckford and Gloria Ray Karlmark also attended the ceremony. All the sponsors had their initials welded into steel plates when the submarine's keel was laid in 2022.

“History is full of groups of collective people who come together to make something happen,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that LaNier said in a speech before the crowd at the shipyard. “Many people are behind the submarine that we christened today. It’s similar to the quote on our currency, E pluribus unum — ‘Out of many, one.’ We have SSN 800, but many participated in the reality of it being here today.”

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro called the ship “the very best of our submarine force capabilities.”

“She will always be propelled by the proud legacy of her namesake, represented here today by three of her courageous sponsors, who overcame tremendous adversity as members of the Little Rock Nine,” Del Toro said.

A number of speakers also noted the 83rd anniversary of Japan's attack in Pearl Harbor, the event that launched the United States into World War II.

The submarine is the fifth naval ship named for Arkansas, including a battleship. The most recent was a guided missile cruiser that was decommissioned in 1988.

The Arkansas is the 27th in a series of Virginia-class submarines and the 13th built at Newport News, a massive shipyard owned by Huntington Ingalls Industries. The other submarines are built at General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat shipyard in Connecticut.

The Arkansas is expected to launch in 2025.