USS North Dakota (SSN 784)

USS NORTH DAKOTA History:

USS NORTH DAKOTA is a nuclear-powered attack submarine of the VIRGINIA-class and the first boat of the Block III variant, incorporating a redesigned bow with two large VIRGINIA Payload Tubes in place of twelve individual vertical launch tubes, giving her the ability to carry up to twelve TOMAHAWK cruise missiles in a more flexible arrangement. The construction contract was awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, on August 14, 2003, and on July 15, 2008 the U.S. Navy announced that SSN 784 would carry the name NORTH DAKOTA, the second U.S. warship to do so after the early-twentieth-century battleship BB 29.

In the years before the hull was assembled, Electric Boat began preparatory work and design integration for the new Block III features, including the revised sonar suite and payload configuration. Around this time the relationship with the namesake state was deepened symbolically: on August 24, 2012, the ship's crest and motto "Strength from the Soil, Reapers of the Deep" were unveiled at the North Dakota State Capitol in Bismarck, emphasizing agricultural imagery, Native American heritage, and submarine warfare symbolism.

Physical construction advanced to a visible milestone when USS NORTH DAKOTA's keel was laid at Groton on May 11, 2012. Over the next year the pressure hull and internal systems were completed under the Block III configuration, with the bow and new payload tubes being among the most closely scrutinized elements because they reflected about twenty percent of the design changes for this variant. In early September 2013, the hull was rolled out from the construction shed at Electric Boat onto a floating dry dock. Photographs from the period show the largely complete submarine on the ways at night and again during daylight as she was prepared for launch. She was floated on September 15, 2013, and formally christened on November 2, 2013, in a ceremony at Groton, sponsored by Katie Fowler, the wife of Vice Admiral Jeff Fowler.

During 2014, the boat moved from shipyard trials to Navy acceptance. In August, she conducted a series of sea trials in the Atlantic, including maneuvering at high speed on the surface and submerged and executing an emergency surfacing and deep-dive evaluations as part of the standard Alpha, Bravo, and Board of Inspection and Survey trials to prove seaworthiness and systems performance. On August 29, 2014, the Navy accepted delivery of USS NORTH DAKOTA, two days ahead of the contracted date. Acceptance followed resolution of issues with certain vendor-supplied components and additional certification work required for the redesigned bow. These issues had earlier led the Navy to postpone a planned May 2014 commissioning and to place the submarine briefly back into dry dock for corrective work.

Commissioning finally took place at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton on October 25, 2014, formally placing USS NORTH DAKOTA in active service with homeport at Groton under Submarine Squadron 4. As the first Block III boat, she immediately had a dual role: to join the operational fleet and, at the same time, to act as a pathfinder for the revised VIRGINIA-class configuration, proving out the new bow, sonar array, and payload-handling systems under operational conditions.

Following commissioning, the submarine conducted local operations from Groton, building crew proficiency and working through the typical post-delivery test program. In this period, she completed weapons certifications, tactical readiness evaluations, and the remaining elements of her initial trials, laying the groundwork for her first deployment. Less than a year after entering service, she was tasked with a special mission that would become a key early episode in her operational history. In mid-2015, USS NORTH DAKOTA deployed from Groton to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility for what was described as a seven-week mission focused on integrating unmanned undersea vehicles and Naval Special Warfare capabilities. Operating in the Mediterranean, she embarked a dry deck shelter and unmanned undersea vehicles and worked with special operations units and divers to conduct complex undersea surveillance and seabed-mapping tasks. The mission marked the first time a U.S. submarine had carried out this particular combination of unmanned systems and special operations in an operational setting rather than an experiment.

USS NORTH DAKOTA returned to Submarine Base New London on July 20, 2015 after these Mediterranean operations. The deployment, conducted less than a year after commissioning, drew attention within the submarine force because of its technical complexity and its implications for future undersea warfare, particularly the use of unmanned vehicles for reconnaissance and mapping in support of special operations. The boat and her crew subsequently received a Meritorious Unit Commendation for their performance on this mission, an award later highlighted to the North Dakota state legislature as an example of the boat's early operational impact.

After this initial deployment the submarine entered her post-shakedown availability, a yard period used to correct discrepancies from construction and early operations. A Navy briefing to Congress noted that USS NORTH DAKOTA's post-shakedown availability was planned to be completed by September 2016, reflecting the scope of work associated with being the first Block III boat and with the intensive trials and early deployments she had already undertaken. During this availability, systems were refined and maintenance items identified during the Mediterranean mission and preceding trials were addressed, preparing the submarine for a more sustained operational rhythm.

Once out of post-shakedown availability, USS NORTH DAKOTA resumed fleet integration and training along the U.S. East Coast and into the broader Atlantic. In 2017, she was involved in a notable weapons-development milestone for the class. That year, operating in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, she conducted the first launch of a TOMAHAWK Land Attack Missile from a VIRGINIA Payload Tube rather than from the earlier twelve-cell vertical launch system, validating the Block III bow concept in live-fire conditions. The test was part of a broader Navy and industry effort to demonstrate that the new payload tubes could flexibly accommodate cruise missiles and other payloads.

Later in 2017, with this weapons testing completed, the submarine headed south for specialized maintenance. On August 29, 2017, she arrived at the Trident Refit Facility's Magnetic Silencing Facility at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, to undergo deperming, a process that reduces a submarine's magnetic signature and thereby its vulnerability to magnetic influence mines and sensors. Photographs show USS NORTH DAKOTA alongside the magnetic silencing pier, underscoring the attention being paid to stealth characteristics as she moved into the fully operational phase of her career.

In early 2018, the boat experienced a serious but non-combat incident. While underway in January, a petty officer attempted suicide with his service rifle, shooting himself in the chest. The crew responded with emergency medical care while the submarine proceeded at high speed on the surface in rough winter seas toward the Thames River to transfer the injured sailor ashore near New London, where he received further treatment and ultimately survived. The episode prompted attention in Navy media to mental-health support in the submarine force and demonstrated the crew's ability to manage a medical crisis far from shore.

That spring, USS NORTH DAKOTA continued regular operations from Groton. In April 2018, she participated in events at Submarine Base New London marking Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, including a widely shared image of USS NORTH DAKOTA and USS VIRGINIA (SSN 774) forming the outline of a teal ribbon on the Thames River as a symbolic gesture of support, reflecting how front-line submarines were also employed in public-engagement efforts.

By mid-2018, the submarine was preparing for her first long overseas deployment following the post-shakedown period. On July 31, 2018, USS NORTH DAKOTA departed Groton for a scheduled six-month deployment, again under U.S. European Command, this time with a dry deck shelter embarked from the outset. A message from her commanding officer, Commander Mark Robinson, to supporters in the namesake state explained that the boat was fully certified for overseas deployment and that the dry deck shelter would allow special operations teams and divers to work directly from the fast-attack submarine - something not routinely done for more than fifteen years. The crew had recently completed a series of evaluations during which the submarine was graded at or above standards in all warfare areas, setting the tone for the deployment.

During this 2018-2019 deployment, USS NORTH DAKOTA operated primarily in the North Atlantic and European waters, reflecting the growing NATO focus on Russian naval activity and access routes from the Barents Sea through the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap. At one point in the autumn she moored at Haakonsvern Naval Base near Bergen, Norway, for a twelve-day upkeep period, underscoring U.S.-Norwegian cooperation in submarine logistics and the use of Norwegian facilities to support allied undersea forces in the North Atlantic. Later in the same deployment, on December 27, she moored at Valiant Jetty at Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde, Faslane, Scotland, home of the United Kingdom's own nuclear-powered submarine force, for further maintenance and rest for the crew. These port calls anchored the deployment within the network of NATO bases that support U.S. and allied undersea operations near critical sea lanes.

USS NORTH DAKOTA completed this deployment when she transited up the Thames River and returned to Naval Submarine Base New London on January 31, 2019. Navy imagery and accompanying captions record that her return marked the successful completion of a six-month deployment to the European Command area of responsibility. The submarine had operated under U.S. Sixth Fleet, contributing to sea-control, surveillance, and deterrence tasks in the North Atlantic and adjacent waters, while the embarked dry deck shelter and associated capabilities indicated continued emphasis on special operations support.

In the period after this first extended deployment, USS NORTH DAKOTA remained based in Groton, conducting training and local operations while undergoing routine maintenance. As the global security environment shifted - with renewed focus on Russian undersea modernization and, increasingly, on great-power competition - the boat was prepared for another deployment to European waters. She deployed again for roughly six months in 2020, though detailed public reporting on the outbound date and day-to-day operations is limited. On January 11, 2021, she returned to her homeport, mooring at Pier 8S at Submarine Base New London after what was described as a scheduled six-month North Atlantic deployment.

A DVIDS report on the homecoming notes that this was USS NORTH DAKOTA's second deployment and that she had operated mostly in the European theater under U.S. Sixth Fleet, traveling over 42,000 nautical miles. The crew spent 186 days deployed and visited two liberty ports, although, because of COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic, liberty was confined to the pier rather than allowing the crew to move freely ashore. Nevertheless, the deployment was significant for internal crew development: by the end of it, every member of the ship's company was qualified in submarines, and thirty-eight sailors earned their "dolphins" during the cruise, a fact the commanding officer highlighted as a major accomplishment.

Shortly after this return, leadership on board changed. Commander Robert Edmonson III reported to USS NORTH DAKOTA in January 2021 and took command on February 12, 2021, becoming the boat's fourth commanding officer. The change of command, held during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, emphasized the continuity of operations as the submarine shifted from one deployment cycle into the workups for another. Edmonson and the crew immediately entered a demanding preparation period, including participation in the Submarine Command Course, in which prospective commanding and executive officers are put through complex peace- and wartime scenarios at sea.

The geopolitical background for USS NORTH DAKOTA's next deployment was markedly tenser. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 altered NATO's security calculus, particularly in the maritime domain of the North Atlantic, Norwegian Sea, and Mediterranean. Edmonson later told North Dakota legislators that he took the submarine on his first deployment as commanding officer on March 29, 2022, just over a month after the invasion. During this third deployment, the crew spent more than two months in complete communications blackout and ultimately traveled over 40,000 miles, operating above the Arctic Circle and throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas. According to Edmonson's account, the deployment proved unusually demanding. Missions were considered sufficiently important that the planned six-month cruise was extended to seven months. The crew spent 94 percent of that time physically at sea, reflecting the intensity of tasking and the premium placed on undersea presence in support of NATO deterrence and surveillance around Europe's northern and southern maritime flanks. During this deployment, USS NORTH DAKOTA made port visits to Faslane, Scotland; Tromso, Norway; Toulon, France; and Rota, Spain.

The visit to Tromso reflected a broader Norwegian policy of expanding the Grotsund terminal north of the city as a logistics hub for allied nuclear-powered submarines, enabling boats like USS NORTH DAKOTA to resupply closer to the Norwegian and Barents seas and thereby spend more time on station monitoring Russian Northern Fleet activity. Public reporting on U.S. submarine visits to Tromso identifies USS NORTH DAKOTA among VIRGINIA-class boats that used the port in May 2022, in line with the port-call list released for her deployment. The Faslane call, meanwhile, highlighted close U.S.-UK coordination; the Royal Navy's own submarines operate from HMNB Clyde, and allied boats frequently use its facilities during North Atlantic patrols. Toulon and Rota anchored the deployment in the western and central Mediterranean, tying undersea presence to wider NATO and U.S. Mediterranean posture at a time when Russian naval forces were active from the Black Sea to Syria.

USS NORTH DAKOTA returned from this seven-month deployment on October 27, 2022, once again making her way up the Thames River to Groton. Families and crew marked the timing of the homecoming as a welcome event just before the holiday season. Submarine Force Atlantic's summary emphasized the boat's role in great-power competition and acknowledged the strain on families over the extended deployment, which had been lengthened because of the significance of the missions assigned. At the same time, Edmonson later noted that the crew's achievements led to a new high in personal and unit awards and that USS NORTH DAKOTA had, by that point, twice received the Battle Effectiveness Award ("Battle E") in recognition of superior performance across warfare areas in the evaluation year.

After the 2022 deployment, the submarine began transitioning from an operational focus to a major maintenance and modernization period. In April 2023 she arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for what was described as a 33-month maintenance and modernization availability. Imagery from the yard shows her alongside prior to entering dry dock, and later, in September 2023, positioned within a dry dock at the yard. While Navy releases do not detail the full scope of work, such availabilities for VIRGINIA-class submarines typically combine reactor-plant and hull maintenance with upgrades to sonar, combat systems, communications, and shipboard networks to keep pace with evolving undersea threats and to integrate new payload options for the VIRGINIA Payload Tubes. Throughout this maintenance period USS NORTH DAKOTA remained formally in service, her crew partly assigned to oversee work, train on updated systems, and support the modernization process.

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