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 (SSGN), converted from a

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capabi ...

(SSBN), that is part of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. 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 so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Construction and commissioning

''Michigan'' was constructed at the Electric Boat Division of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Corporation in

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

, and was commissioned on 11 September 1982. ''Michigan'' arrived in Bangor, Washington, on 16 March 1983 and completed sixty-six Strategic Deterrent Patrols. She was originally designed and commissioned as a

(SSBN) capable of deploying 24 Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) with nuclear warheads.

Conversion to SSGN

As of June 2007, ''Michigan'' has been converted to an SSGN 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, 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, CSC Dominique Saavedra embarked aboard ''Michigan'' and became the first enlisted female sailor to have earned her submarine qualification serving on a U.S. Navy submarine, the first boat specially modified with separate accommodations for enlisted female crew. (The first female, both officer and overall was in 2011.) On 25 April 2017, ''Michigan'' docked at Busan Naval Base, 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 Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. 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, it ...

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 matin ...

mounted on ''Michigan''. ''Michigan'' returned to Busan Naval Base, South Korea on 15 June 2023, the day after North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast. The visual display of the submarine - again with a mounted dry deck shelter - was done to demonstrate the US resolve to support and protect

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

against North Korea's recent aggression.

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