The USS North Dakota brought home good news Monday as it returned from a two-month mission in the Mediterranean Sea. It announced the successful trial run of an undersea drone, which is expected to be used in military operation both as a weapon and a reconnaissance device. Capt. Douglas Gordon, USS North Dakota's commanding officer, said, "This was something they thought we could go do," and "we went out, and we proved that," in an Associated Press interview. The crew was able to launch and recover the device in what the military called as unprecedented feat.
The undersea drone, which is also known as unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV), will be the first of its kind for the U.S. Navy. It is considered an important technological breakthrough because it will significantly augment the capability of the U.S. submarine fleet without spending huge amount of money. This is important since the number in the submarine fleet has steadily declined since the end of the Cold War, the Daily Mail learned.
