Key Points and Summary: The USS Florida, an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, recently completed a historic 727-day deployment, circling the globe and covering 60,000 nautical miles.
-Operating in multiple oceans and observing maritime activities of China, Russia, and Iran, the Florida’s mission highlighted the versatility of U.S. undersea warfare.
-Crews rotated in five-month intervals, alleviating the strain of the extended mission.
-Originally built as a nuclear missile sub, the Florida was converted to launch 154 Tomahawk missiles and deploy Navy SEALs.
-As a critical deterrent and intelligence asset, the Florida underscores the importance of submarines in modern military strategy and U.S. global dominance.
The Heroic Mission of the USS Florida Ohio-Class Submarine: 727 Days at Sea
During the Global War on Terror, with military personnel in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines were expected to serve on long deployments. Some of these lasted as long as a year.
This was difficult for all people in the armed services, and it led many observers and politicians to criticize such lengthy periods away from friends and families.
But what if I told you that one submarine stayed out at sea for nearly two years?
That’s right. The USS Florida, an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, conducted a mission that lasted 727 days at sea.
The USS Florida Is One Heroic Sub
In late July 2024, USS Florida returned from an operation that had it circumnavigate the globe and watch the maritime activities of China, Russia, and Iran.
This mission started in August 2022, and the sub traveled an incredible 60,000 nautical miles. The Florida entered the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, and the Navy must have been ecstatic.
Extremely Difficult Mission
It isn’t easy to imagine serving that long. Even the largest U.S. submarines make enormous demands on the sailors. The subs have cramped quarters. Personnel cannot take long, luxurious showers.
There is not much privacy on board. Boredom creeps in. The food starts tasting terrible. Sailors miss home and can’t wait for the day they can breathe fresh air and see their loved ones.
Luckily for the sailors, the Navy kept these issues in mind and swapped out the crew on the Florida five times. There was a blue crew and a gold crew, and each crew served in five-month increments.
So, at least the personnel got a break and didn’t have to serve two years straight. However, sub-deployments can still be nerve-racking and strenuous. The sub’s commander was happy that the long-lasting patrol went so well.
“We have demonstrated the versatility of SSGN platform to operate anywhere at any time,” said Captain Peter French, blue crew commanding officer. “We operated in several different oceans. It’s very uncommon for East Coast submarines to deploy to the West Coast, but we managed to do an exceptional job completing the mission,” French said in a Navy news release.
The crews of sailors did get liberty breaks. There were ports of call in Greece, Guam, Diego Garcia, and the United Kingdom.
Ohio-Class USS Florida Has an Intriguing History
The Florida is one of those Ohio-class subs that converted from a “boomer” nuclear missile-carrying boat (SSBN) to a conventional guided-missile SSGN. This conversion happened in 2003 during its mid-life refueling and maintenance overhaul.
The process was completed in 2006. The Florida can blast the enemy with 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and collect valuable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data.
The Florida can also deploy 66 U.S. Naval SEALs and in that two-year mission, you can bet that the special operators visited some exotic places for recon operations.
However, all those SEAL missions are classified.
The Florida is not a new boat. It was launched in 1981, making it one of the oldest subs in the fleet. During the lengthy deployment, it performed anti-submarine and anti-surface duties.
U.S. Undersea Warfare Is In a Class By Itself
“I can tell you from the operations we did out there, we developed lots of lessons learned and passed on several very long messages detailing all the things that we learned from what we did,” French said.
The Florida is often a newsmaker, and that is rare. The Navy doesn’t like to announce any surfacing. The Ohio-class sub arrived in the Middle East in 2023 and visited Norway later that year. Rest assured that the U.S. military was sending a message to terrorists operating in Yemen and to the Russians who invaded Ukraine.
So, the Florida is an instrument of U.S. deterrence.
What Does the Future Hold for American Submarines?
As the captain of the Florida explained, American submarines can operate anywhere at any time. U.S. lawmakers want more fast attack subs and that is a challenge for the Pentagon, which will have a new Secretary of Defense soon if nominee Pete Hegseth gets confirmed.
It will be interesting to see when the Navy tells Hegseth about how important submarines are to U.S. national security and if the new SECDEF will become an advocate for undersea warfare.
He says he wants more lethality, and subs like the Florida, who perform heroic feats, should be at the top of the mind and part of a broader military strategy for the Trump defense team.
Ohio-Class Submarine: A Story in Pictures

Ohio-Class SSGN Submarine U.S. Navy.

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – The Ohio-class guided missile submarine USS Georgia (SSGN 729) transits the Saint Marys River July 15. Georgia returned to Kings Bay after spending more than a year forward deployed. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class(SW) James Kimber)

SOUDA BAY, Greece (May 21, 2013) The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Florida (SSGN 728), gold crew, arrives in Souda harbor. Florida is homeported in Kings Bay, Ga., and is deployed conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Paul Farley/Released) 130521-N-MO201-047

Ohio-Class SSBN. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Ohio-Class SSGN. Image Credit: U.S. Navy.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.

Fast Attack Freddy
January 16, 2025 at 6:31 pm
Awesome blue and gold crews. That’s so cute. Not to see the boat for 5 months on off crew. Don’t know how you part time BFs do it.
Brent
January 16, 2025 at 10:39 pm
We’re really going to miss those 4 boats when they’ve been retired.
Fred Langer
January 16, 2025 at 10:58 pm
Great article! Some almost classified stuff in that presentation.
John Read
January 17, 2025 at 1:53 pm
So not exactly all that time at sea. A patrol in my day was sail ,dive, surface some time in the future around 3-3 1/2 months later. This was aa SSN . The only limiting factor was food. Was no maintenance done in this time. Should really be called a deployment. 302 dived accrued days in one year was a great deal of time to be at sea on a much smaller boat. No jollies that year. Ate a lot of beans and sausages. Saying that ,it is still a lot of sea time. If politicians were detailed off for this sort of thing the patrols would be far shorter. Nancies!
Tom Townsend
January 17, 2025 at 4:24 pm
I’m a plank owner (original commissioning crew) on the USS Florida – SSBN 728 and was also onboard for its first deterrent patrol. Ive kept up to date on its mission change. I thought you did a good job on this story, Thank You
Stephen McLachlan
January 18, 2025 at 5:46 am
I don’t want to hurt anyone feelings here but this wasn’t a 727 day patrol anything but, a patrol is when the SSBN be it a USN boat or British boat the patrol starts from when the submarine set QRA (Quick Readiness Alert) and when it comes of QRA and in-between the submarine will remain constantly at sea remain in constant communication normally one way traffic to the sub unless emergency dictates a flash signal to shore and to be able to fire your 1st missile within 15 minutes notice, i/e a signal received to launch your missiles from the CIC or PM, not this going ashore for a break and changing crew’s this is a deployment and nothing more just the same as the surface fleet have been doing for decades in both navies.
I served 20 year’s on Polaris and my youngest son has served around 23 so far on UK Vanguard class boat’s and he was at sea on patrol for over 129 day’s on QRA and I did the longest UK Polaris patrol on Resolution in 1991 offially 107 on QRA but at sea dived 115 day’s straight and the boat was in for one day then straight back out on patrol with the port crew for another huge patrol without a maintenance period.
Now very long patrols are the norm which is really sad as it puts huge stress on family life, we were all male boat’s back then so no distractions although I do agree the ladies have every right to go to sea on an all female boat in my out of date opinion lol.
Ron Nelson
January 18, 2025 at 12:54 pm
With all the intelligence gatherings, why do you share anything about our armed forces?
We need to limit what is shown.
Don’’t have big mouth. However carry BIG stick.