NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Newport News Shipbuilding has christened the fast-attack submarine Minnesota.

Ellen Roughead, a Minnesota native and wife of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, broke a bottle of American sparkling wine across the hull to christen the Virginia-class submarine Saturday.

Construction of the vessel began in February 2008 and is 88 percent complete. The company says as many as 1,000 shipbuilders worked on the Minnesota.