Latest nuclear sub coming to Wilmington

WILMINGTON – The latest nuclear submarine in the United States Navy has a special connection with Wilmington.

The commander of the USS North Carolina was in town Friday morning to unveil plans to bring the sub to the Port City.

This spring Commander Mark Davis will navigate the $2 billion attack submarine into the Cape Fear River.

The secretary of the Navy chose Wilmington as the location for the ship to be commissioned. Commander Davis and the hundred-plus member crew assigned to the nuclear vessel feel a special connection with the city’s history.

Cmdr. Davis said, “Heritage is very important to my crew, so we have several pieces off of the battleship that we use on board with the ship that we look at everyday and think about those that came before us.”

Cmdr. Davis will work with a newly-formed commissioning committee to determine the details of the ceremony and the logistics of getting the 78-hundred ton vessel down the Cape Fear River.

The submarine is about 90 percent complete.

In the next few months, the commander and his crew will be running sea-trials to prepare the USS North Carolina for its commissioning in April or May.