USS ''Michigan'' (SSBN-727/SSGN-727) is an

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

guided missile submarine A cruise missile submarine is a submarine that carries and launches cruise missiles (SLCMs and anti-ship missiles) as its primary armament. Missiles greatly enhance a vessel's ability to attack surface combatants and strike land targets, and alt ...

(SSGN), converted from a ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), that is part of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. She is the third vessel to bear the name of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Construction and commissioning

''Michigan'' was constructed at the

Electric Boat Division General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) is a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation. It has been the primary builder of submarines for the United States Navy for more than 100 years. The company's main facilities are a shipyard in Groton, Co ...

of General Dynamics Corporation in

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London i ...

, and was commissioned on 11 September 1982. ''Michigan'' arrived in

Bangor, Washington Bangor Base is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kitsap County, Washington, within U.S. Naval Base Kitsap on the Kitsap Peninsula. Its population was 6,054 at the 2010 census. Geography Bangor is located north of the center of Kitsap County ...

, on 16 March 1983 and completed sixty-six Strategic Deterrent Patrols. She was originally designed and commissioned as a ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) capable of deploying 24

Trident II A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) with

nuclear warheads A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

Conversion to SSGN

As of June 2007, ''Michigan'' has been converted to an

SSGN A cruise missile submarine is a submarine that carries and launches cruise missiles (SLCMs and anti-ship missiles) as its primary armament. Missiles greatly enhance a vessel's ability to attack surface combatants and strike land targets, and al ...

at the

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted ...

. Her

hull classification symbol The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

then changed from SSBN-727 to SSGN-727.

Post-conversion

On 12 December 2009, ''Michigan'' returned to

Naval Base Kitsap Naval Base Kitsap is a U.S. Navy base located on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state, created in 2004 by merging the former Naval Station Bremerton with Naval Submarine Base Bangor. It is the home base for the Navy’s fleet throughout ...

, her home base, completing her first deployment after the SSGN conversion. The deployment began 10 November 2008, and included numerous missions. The boat also completed several theater security cooperation engagements with Pacific Rim nations. On 28 June 2010, ''Michigan'' was one of three ''Ohio''-class submarines involved in a US response to Chinese missile testing in the contested East China Sea. ''Michigan'', , and all surfaced simultaneously in the waters of South Korea, the Philippines, and the British Indian Ocean Territory respectively. In August 2016,

Chief Petty Officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxi ...

Dominique Saavedra became the first enlisted female sailor to earn her submarine qualification, and was assigned to ''Michigan''. (The first female, both officer and overall was in 2011.) On 25 April 2017, ''Michigan'' docked at

Busan Naval Base The Busan Naval Base () is a group of ports and land facilities of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN), located at Nam-Gu, Busan. The United States Naval Forces Korea headquarters sit within this base. The base can accommodate up to 30 vessels, in ...

, South Korea, during a time of heightened tensions with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. She later joined the USS ''Carl Vinson'' Carrier Strike Group in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

for exercises. Photographs show a

dry deck shelter A dry deck shelter (DDS) is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating ...

mounted on ''Michigan''.

References

:This article includes information collected from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

and various news articles.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan (Ssgn-727) Ships built in Groton, Connecticut Ohio-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy Ballistic missile submarines 1980 ships Submarines of the United States