USS North Carolina (SSN-777)

For other ships with the same name, see USS North Carolina.

USS North Carolina (SSN-777) during her commissioning ceremony in 2008.
History
United States
NameNorth Carolina
NamesakeState of North Carolina
Ordered30 September 1998
BuilderNorthrop Grumman Newport News
Laid down22 May 2004
Christened21 April 2007
Launched5 May 2007
Acquired21 February 2008
Commissioned3 May 2008
HomeportPearl Harbor, Hawaii
MottoPrimus in Proelio ("First in Fight")
Nickname(s)The Lucky Girl
Statusin active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeVirginia-class submarine
Displacement7,800 tons
Length114.9 m (377 ft)
Beam10.3 m (34 ft)
Depth800 ft (244 m)
Propulsion
  • 1 × S9G PWR nuclear reactor[1] 280,000 shp (210 MW), HEU 93%[2][3]
  • 2 × steam turbines 40,000 shp (30 MW)
  • 1 × single shaft pump-jet propulsor[1]
  • 1 × secondary propulsion motor[1]
Speed25 knots (46 km/h)+
RangeEssentially unlimited distance; 33 years
Complement134 officers and men
Armament12 × VLS (BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile) & 4 × 533 mm torpedo tubes (Mark 48 torpedo)

USS North Carolina (SSN-777), a Virginia-class attack submarine, is the fourth vessel of the United States Navy named for U.S. state of North Carolina. The contract to build her was awarded to Northrop Grumman Newport News on 30 September 1998 and her keel was laid down on 24 May 2004. She was launched on 5 May 2007. North Carolina was commissioned on 3 May 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina.

This class of submarine is unique in that it features the Photonics Mast Program (PMP) that freed ship designers to place the boat's control room in a lower, less geometrically constrained space than would be required by a standard, optical tube periscope. It is additionally unique in the U.S. Navy for featuring all-digital ship and ballast control systems that are operated by relatively senior watchstanders and a pressure chamber to deploy SEAL divers while being submerged.[citation needed] She is capable of diverse missions, including conventional submarine warfare, strike warfare, mining operations, and delivery of special operations personnel and equipment.[4]

  1. ^ a b c Ragheb, Magdi (9 September 2011), Tsvetkov, Pavel (ed.), "Nuclear Naval Propulsion", Nuclear Power - Deployment, Operation and Sustainability, ISBN 978-953-307-474-0
  2. ^ "Validation of the Use of Low Enriched Uranium as a Replacement for Highly Enriched Uranium in US Submarine Reactors" (PDF). dspace.mit.edu. June 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  3. ^ "US study of reactor and fuel types to enable naval reactors to shift from HEU fuel". fissilematerials.org. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  4. ^ "A History of Ships Named for the State of North Carolina". Battleship North Carolina. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2019.