The keel for "North Dakota" was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, on 16 December 1907. She was launched on 10 November 1908, and completed on 11 April 1910, thereafter being commissioned into the fleet. On 8 September 1910, the ship suffered an oil-tank explosion and fire while at sea. Six men—Chief Watertenders August Holtz and Patrick Reid, Chief Machinist's Mates Thomas Stanton and Karl Westa, Machinist's Mate First Class Charles C. Roberts, and Watertender Harry Lipscomb—each received the Medal of Honor "for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession" during the fire.