North Dakota (pronunciation: ⁱ/ˌnɔːrθ dəˈkoʊtə/; locally [ˌno̞ɹθ dəˈko̞ɾə]) is the 39th state of the United States, having been admitted to the union on November 2, 1889.

It is located in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north, the states of Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south, and Montana to the west. The state capital is Bismarck, and the largest city is Fargo. North Dakota is the 19th most extensive but the 4th least populous and the 4th least densely populated of the 50 United States.

North Dakota has weathered the Great Recession of the early 21st century with a boom in natural resources, particularly a boom in oil extraction from the Bakken formation, which lies beneath the northwestern part of the state. The development has driven strong job and population growth, and low unemployment.

Geography

North Dakota is located in the U.S. region known as the Great Plains. The state shares the Red River of the North with Minnesota on the east; South Dakota is to the south, Montana is to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are north. North Dakota is situated near the middle of North America with a stone marker in Rugby, North Dakota marking the "Geographic Center of the North American Continent". With an area of 70,762 square miles (183,273 km²), North Dakota is the 19th largest state.

North Dakota is a state in the United States.

North Dakota may also refer to:

Ships

Other

See also

USS North Dakota (SSN-784) is a Virginia-class submarine of the United States Navy. She is the second U.S. Navy ship to be named for the U.S. state of North Dakota. She was commissioned in Groton, Connecticut on 25 October 2014.

Construction

North Dakota is the first of eight Virginia Class Block III ships. Approximately 20 percent of North Dakota was redesigned to lower acquisition cost and increase operational flexibility. The changes include a ship's bow redesign, replacing 12 individual launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The contract to build her was awarded to Electric Boat division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut on 14 August 2003. Her name was announced on 15 July 2008. and her keel was laid down on 11 May 2012. She was floated on 15 September 2013 and was christened on 2 November 2013, sponsored by Katie Fowler, wife of Vice Admiral Jeff Fowler.

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of North Dakota on 29 August 2014 two days prior to its contract delivery date. The submarine successfully completed Alpha, Bravo, and Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) trials, which evaluate the submarine's seaworthiness and operational capabilities. During the trials, the crew took the submarine to test depth, conducted an emergency surfacing, and tested the submarine's propulsion plant. The U.S. Navy postponed North Dakota´s original commissioning date of May 2014 because of quality issues with vendor-assembled and delivered components that required an unplanned dry-docking to correct. Additional design certification work was also required on the submarine's redesigned bow. North Dakota was commissioned on 25 October 2014 in Groton, Connecticut.

Two ships of the United States Navy have been named USS North Dakota in honor of the 39th state.

See Also

USS North Dakota (BB-29) was a dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy, the second member of the Delaware class, her only sister ship being USS Delaware. North Dakota was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in December 1907, was launched in November 1909, and commissioned into the US Navy in April 1910. She was armed with a main battery of ten 12-inch (300 mm) guns and was capable of a top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph). North Dakota was the first vessel of the US Navy to be named after the 39th state.

North Dakota had a peaceful career; she was present during the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914, but did not see action. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, North Dakota remained in the US, training crewmen for the rapidly expanding wartime Navy, and therefore did not see combat. She remained on active duty through the early 1920s, until she was decommissioned under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty in November 1923, and subsequently converted into a radio-controlled target ship. She served in that capacity until 1930, when she was replaced in that role by USS Utah. In 1931, she was sold for scrapping and thereafter dismantled.

North Dakota is the 2002 album by Tom Brosseau. It was produced by Gregory Page in San Diego, CA. It is currently out of print.

Track listing

All songs written by Tom Brosseau.

References