USS Connecticut (SSN-22) is a nuclear powered fast attack submarine operated by the United States Navy. Connecticut is the fifth active United States Ship to be named for the U.S. state of Connecticut, going back to 1776. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 3 May 1991 and her keel was laid down on 14 September 1992. She was launched on 1 September 1997, sponsored by Patricia L. Rowland, wife of the Governor of Connecticut, John G. Rowland, and commissioned on 11 December 1998. History 1999 was spent conducting shakedown operations that evaluated Connecticut weapons systems, sensors, stealth and engineering proficiency. She participated in Joint Task Force Exercise 2-99 as an opposing force asset, and completed acoustic trials, a shallow water exercise, and an anti-submarine warfare exercise. In September 1999 Connecticut began a Post-Shakedown Availability (PSA) at the Electric Boat shipyard. Despite a 100% growth in the amount of PSA work, making this the submarine force's most demanding PSA, Connecticut completed all work ahead of schedule. This PSA concluded as the safest in the 100-year history of Electric Boat. In April 2003, Connecticut surfaced through the Arctic ice at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station (APLIS). While there, she encountered a polar bear, which gnawed on her rudder for a while before disengaging. On 31 March 2004 Connecticut put to sea in support of the War on Terrorism as part of the Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), returning to NSB New London on 2 September with a pierside band blasting Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town". For the next three years, Connecticut was largely confined to port as she underwent a prolonged maintenance cycle. In early 2007, it was announced that Connecticut would be transferred to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, in Washington's Puget Sound, following a six-month deployment commencing on 25 July 2007. She would be the last of the Navy's three Seawolf-class submarines to be transferred from New London to Kitsap as part of a larger U.S. Navy realignment shifting 60% of the fleet's submarines to the Pacific. Upon arrival at Kitsap on 30 January 2008, Connecticut joined her Seawolf sisters in Submarine Development Squadron Five. In early 2011, Connecticut participated in ICEX 2011 to "train today’s submarines in the challenging Arctic environment", as well as "refine and validate procedures and required equipment."