USS North Dakota (SSN-784): Christening, Key Facts and the Submarine Today

The submarine North Dakota (SSN-784) was christened on 2 November 2013 at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. Its sponsor, Katie Fowler, broke the traditional bottle across the hull. The boat was commissioned a year later, on 25 October 2014, and it is still in service today.

North Dakota is a Virginia-class attack submarine. It was also the first boat of an improved version of that class, with a redesigned bow that changed how every later boat was built.

This guide covers the christening, the submarine’s key facts, what makes it different, what it has done since, and where it is now. It is written in plain English, with no engineering degree needed. 🌊

What happened at the christening

The ceremony took place on 2 November 2013 at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut. Electric Boat has been building submarines for the U.S. Navy for more than a century.

The honour of naming the boat went to its sponsor, Katie Fowler. She is the wife of Vice Admiral Jeff Fowler. Following a long Navy tradition, she broke a bottle against the submarine and gave it its name.

By then the submarine was nearly complete. It had been floated for the first time about seven weeks earlier, on 15 September 2013.

Not yet “USS”

On christening day the boat was not yet USS North Dakota. A Navy vessel only takes the title USS when it is commissioned. Before that it is a Pre-Commissioning Unit, or PCU. North Dakota became USS on 25 October 2014.

The road from contract to commissioning

A submarine passes several milestones before it joins the fleet. Each has its own name, and they are often mixed up.

A short delay before commissioning

North Dakota was first due to be commissioned in May 2014. The Navy postponed the date. Some parts supplied by outside vendors had quality problems, which meant an unplanned spell in dry dock. Extra checks were also needed on the newly designed bow.

The problems were fixed over the summer. The submarine passed its sea trials, which included a dive to test depth and an emergency surfacing. The Navy accepted it on 29 August 2014 and commissioned it in Groton on 25 October 2014.

A christening gives a submarine its name. A commissioning gives it a crew, a flag and a mission.

USS North Dakota at a glance

Source: U.S. Navy Fact File, Attack Submarines (SSN), for class figures.

What does an attack submarine do?

The letters SSN are the Navy’s code for a nuclear-powered attack submarine. These boats are the hunters of the fleet. According to the Navy, their jobs include:

• Finding and sinking enemy submarines and surface ships.
• Striking targets on land with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
• Carrying special operations forces close to shore without being seen.
• Gathering intelligence quietly, for weeks at a time.
• Protecting aircraft carriers and other ships.
• Mine warfare.

Nuclear power is what makes all this possible. The reactor means the submarine never needs to surface to refuel. It can stay under water for months. The limit is how much food the crew can carry.

Three kinds of U.S. Navy submarine

What makes North Dakota special: the first Block III boat

Virginia-class submarines are built in batches called blocks. Each block brings improvements. North Dakota was the first of eight Block III boats, and about a fifth of the design was changed.

The aim was to make the boats cheaper to build and more flexible to use. The biggest change was at the front.

Two big tubes in place of twelve small ones

Earlier boats had 12 single-missile tubes in the bow. North Dakota has two wide tubes, each holding six Tomahawks. The number of missiles is the same. But the wide tubes are simpler to build, and they can be adapted to carry other things in future, such as underwater drones.

A new bow

The bow sonar was redesigned too. This is the submarine’s main set of “ears”. The new array is easier to build and maintain than the older sphere.

What all Virginia-class boats share

North Dakota also has the features that set the whole class apart:

• No traditional periscope. Two masts carry digital cameras instead. The picture is shown on screens in the control room.
• A bigger, better-placed control room. With no periscope tube through the hull, the control room could be moved down a deck, where there is more space.
• Room for special forces. The torpedo room can be rearranged to house a large team and its equipment, and there is a large lockout trunk for divers.
• Built for shallow water as well as the open ocean.
• A reactor designed to last the life of the boat.

Why the name North Dakota?

U.S. Navy attack submarines of this class are mostly named after states. SSN-784 honours the state of North Dakota.

It is the second Navy vessel to carry the name. The first was the battleship USS North Dakota (BB-29), which served in the early 1900s, around the time of the First World War.

The motto and the crest

The submarine’s motto is Strength from the Soil, Reapers of the Deep. The first half comes from the state’s coat of arms. The second half has two meanings. It points to the state’s farming history, and to the work of a submarine crew.

The crest was designed with ideas from the crew and from people in North Dakota. It is shaped like an arrowhead, edged with wheat. It shows a pair of revolvers for the two missile tubes, and the words “Rough Riders” in a nod to Theodore Roosevelt’s ties to the state. The outline of the old battleship appears on the skyline.

What USS North Dakota has done since

The Navy says very little about where its submarines go. That is the whole point of a submarine. But official photo captions give a useful outline of the boat’s service.

1. October 2014 — commissioned in Groton, which became its home port.
2. January 2019 — home from its maiden deployment. The Navy said the boat had been operating in the European area. The photo at the top of this guide was taken that day.
3. January 2021 — home from a six-month deployment. The Navy noted that 38 sailors earned their submarine “Dolphins” during the trip.
4. October 2022 — home from a seven-month deployment, again to the European area, after steaming nearly 40,000 nautical miles.
5. April 2023 — into the shipyard. The boat arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for a long period of maintenance and upgrades.
6. February 2026 — undocked. The Navy reported that the submarine had left dry dock after repairs, inspections and the replacement of mechanical and electrical systems.
7. Late summer 2026 — work complete. The shipyard marked the submarine’s delivery back to the fleet.

What is life like on board?

A Virginia-class submarine is longer than a football field, but most of that space is taken up by machinery, weapons and the reactor. The crew lives and works in what is left.

• Space is tight. Bunks are stacked, and personal storage is small.
• There are no windows. The crew can go weeks without seeing daylight.
• Contact with home is limited. Messages are short and not always possible.
• The food has a good reputation. Good meals matter a great deal when there is little else to look forward to.
• Everyone has more than one job. Each sailor must be able to respond to fire, flooding and other emergencies.

It is not for everyone. But submariners are volunteers, and many say the closeness of the crew is the best part. For a wider look at Navy life at sea, read what life on a Navy ship is really like.

Real-life situations

1. You are from North Dakota

Namesake states often build real ties with “their” vessel. Crew members visit, and local groups support the boat and its families. It is worth looking up whether a support group is active in the state.

2. Someone in your family serves on a submarine

Expect long quiet periods. Agree before they leave how you will handle bills, news and emergencies. The boat’s ombudsman is your link to the command while it is away.

3. You are writing a school report

The simplest angle is “what changed with Block III”. Use the comparison table above. Be careful with dates: christened in 2013, commissioned in 2014.

4. You want to see a submarine

You cannot tour an active submarine. But the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut, is home to the historic submarine USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, which visitors can walk through.

5. You are thinking about volunteering for submarines

Submarine duty is voluntary and has its own screening. Start with our guide to how to join the Navy, then ask a recruiter about submarine programmes. Our ASVAB guide will help with the entry test.

Common mistakes (and the fix for each)

Pro tips for learning about a Navy submarine

• Search by hull number. “SSN 784” finds official photos and captions faster than the name.
• Read the photo captions. Navy captions give dates and places you can rely on.
• Learn the letters. SSN, SSBN and SSGN tell you what a submarine is for.
• Know the block. For Virginia-class boats, the block tells you what the boat can carry.
• Visit a museum boat. Walking through one teaches more than any diagram.

Want to go deeper?

Here are three good next steps: one to build, one that explains how a submarine works, and one that tells the story of what submarines have done. We chose them by researching what each one covers and who it suits. We have not tested them hands-on, and we list the trade-offs. Read how we choose products.

Price level is a broad guide, not a live price. Scroll the table sideways on small screens.

Best for builders

Hobby Boss 1/350 USS Virginia (SSN-774) Model Kit

$ Budget

A plastic kit of USS Virginia, the first boat of North Dakota’s class. At 1/350 scale the finished model is about 12.9 inches long. A submarine has a simple shape, which makes this a friendly first ship kit.

Ideal for: First-time modellers and anyone who wants a Virginia-class boat on the shelf.

• Decals for the hull, including draft marks
• Painting guide with three-view art
• Compact finished size

Brand

Hobby Boss

Scale

1/350

Subject

USS Virginia (SSN-774)

Finished length

about 12.9 inches

Extras

Hull decals and a painting guide

What we like

• Simple shape that is quick to build
• Small enough for any shelf
• Same class as North Dakota

Trade-offs

• Shows the earlier bow design, not the Block III bow
• Glue and paint are usually sold separately, so check the listing
• Delivery can take several days

Best explainer

Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship

$ Budget

Tom Clancy’s non-fiction tour of a nuclear attack submarine, room by room, with diagrams and photographs. It explains sonar, weapons, the reactor and daily routine in a way that a newcomer can follow. It describes an older class than North Dakota, but the basics of how an attack submarine works have not changed.

Ideal for: Readers who want to understand what each part of a submarine does.

• Guided tour of an attack submarine
• Diagrams and photographs
• Covers roles and missions

Authors

Tom Clancy and John Gresham

Format

Paperback

Length

368 pages

This edition

May 2003 reissue

Page size

about 6 x 9 inches

What we like

• Clear and readable
• Explains the technology without jargon
• Inexpensive paperback

Trade-offs

• First written in the 1990s, before the Virginia class
• Does not cover the newest systems
• A long read if you only want the basics

Best history

Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

$ Budget

A narrative history of American submarine missions during the Cold War, based on interviews with the people involved. It reads more like a thriller than a textbook, and it shows why attack submarines matter so much to the Navy.

Ideal for: Anyone who prefers true stories to technical detail.

• True stories of Cold War submarine missions
• Based on interviews
• A New York Times bestseller

Authors

Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew and Annette Lawrence Drew

Publisher

PublicAffairs

Format

Paperback

Length

448 pages

This edition

April 2016

What we like

• Hard to put down
• Explains why submarines matter
• Good value for its length

Trade-offs

• Covers the Cold War, not today’s boats
• Little technical explanation
• Much of the subject is still classified, so gaps remain

Frequently asked questions

When was USS North Dakota christened?

The submarine was christened on 2 November 2013 at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut.

Who christened USS North Dakota?

Katie Fowler, the wife of Vice Admiral Jeff Fowler, is the submarine’s sponsor and performed the christening.

When was USS North Dakota commissioned?

It was commissioned on 25 October 2014 in Groton, Connecticut, after the original May 2014 date was postponed.

What kind of submarine is USS North Dakota?

It is a Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and the first of the Block III boats, which have a redesigned bow and two large payload tubes.

Where is USS North Dakota based?

Its home port is Groton, Connecticut, at Naval Submarine Base New London.

Does USS North Dakota carry nuclear weapons?

It is nuclear-powered, but its listed weapons are Tomahawk cruise missiles and Mk 48 torpedoes. The Navy’s nuclear deterrent is carried by ballistic missile submarines, a different type.

Your quick-reference checklist

• Christened: 2 November 2013, Groton, Connecticut.
• Sponsor: Katie Fowler.
• Commissioned: 25 October 2014.
• Type: Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN).
• First of Block III: new bow, two large payload tubes.
• Size: 377 feet long, about 7,800 tons submerged.
• Home port: Groton, Connecticut.
• Name: the second Navy vessel called North Dakota, after battleship BB-29.

The christening in 2013 gave the submarine its name. Everything since — the deployments, the Dolphins earned, the years of quiet work under the sea — is what gave that name its meaning. 🌊

Sources

Facts last checked against these sources: October 2026.

• U.S. Navy Fact File — Attack Submarines (SSN) (updated November 2025): Virginia-class size, speed, crew, weapons, features and home ports.
• U.S. Navy / DVIDS, 31 January 2019: return from the maiden deployment.
• U.S. Navy / DVIDS, 27 October 2022: return from a seven-month deployment.
• U.S. Navy / DVIDS, 26 February 2026: undocking at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
• Wikipedia — USS North Dakota (SSN-784): used for construction dates, the commissioning delay and the description of the crest.