USS Missouri (SSN 780)

USS Missouri (SSN-780) is the seventh Virginia-class attack submarine and the fourth ship in the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of Missouri. It was completed, and delivered, nine months early and under budget.

The contract to build Missouri was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 14 August 2003. Its keel was laid down on 27 September 2008. The submarine was put in the water on 20 November 2009, and christened on 5 December 2009. Missouri's sponsor is Becky Gates, wife of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Missouri was commissioned on 31 July 2010. Her first assignment is with Submarine Squadron 4 (SUBRON 4) based at US Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, CT.

On 20 April 2012, command of the Missouri was handed over from Cmdr Timothy Rexrode to Cmdr Michael Luckett.

The 7,800-ton submarine Missouri was built under a teaming arrangement between General Dynamics Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Newport News. Sections of the submarine are built at both shipyards and then final assembly is completed at one or the other. In this instance, SSN-780 was assembled at the Groton/New London, Connecticut shipyard. Final assembly occurs alternately between the two. During the design and construction phases both shipyards collaborate to complete each submarine.

Missouri completed her first 6-month deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet on 20 December 2013. In March 2014 Missouri made an 11-week-long surge deployment in the Northern Atlantic, just three months after its previous deployment and possibly linked to the Ukrainian crisis, i.e. the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation (which took place in March 2014). The submarine continued to operate with the U.S. 6th fleet in 2015.