The ship's name was announced in 2016 as Bismarck.[5][6] The keel was laid on 18 January 2017,[2][7] by which point the ship's name had been changed to City of Bismarck.[8] The state of North Dakota was represented at the ceremony by Robert O. Wefald, a retired Navy officer, former state Attorney General, and longtime resident of Bismarck. Wefald welded his initials into a steel plate that would be incorporated into the ship.[9]
On 7 June 2017, USNS City of Bismarck was launched at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama.[1] The City of Bismarck completed acceptance trials on 20 October 2017[10] and its delivery was accepted by the U.S. Navy on 19 December 2017.[3]