Firepower And Firewater

By PAUL GRAY/

When it is christened Aug. 11 at Groton, Conn., the new Trident submarine U.S.S. Kentucky will have a bottle of bourbon rather than bubbly bashed across its bow. "We don't drink much champagne in Kentucky," says Congressman Larry Hopkins, a Republican from the state who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. To avoid offending any of the Kentucky distillers, Hopkins' wife Carolyn will break a bottle filled with a blend of bourbons from all the state's producers. The Navy professes no major qualms about this departure from tradition.Says a spokesman wryly: "The spirit's the thing."

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS