[15] Due to the presence of important military shipyards (specialising in submarines since the Soviet period), Severodvinsk is an access-restricted town for foreign citizens.

British and Norman[4][need quotation to verify] ships came to these places for mining, fur and fishing before the 13th century, but later the climate became colder and access to the northern seas became closed.

[citation needed] The historical records first mention the settlement on the site of modern Severodvinsk in 1419, when the Swedes sailed into the bay and burnt down the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery that stood by the shore during the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars.

The abbey stood in ruins until 1471, when two sons of Marfa Boretskaya died in a vicious storm; their bodies were recovered on the beach near the monastery twelve days later.

On August 24, 1553, a ship of Richard Chancellor reached the salt-mining settlement of Nyonoksa, which is still famous for its traditional wooden architecture.

In August 1618 the harbour was visited by John Tradescant the elder, who conducted a survey of an island situated opposite the monastery.

Its main industry remains defense-related — the construction and repair of submarines at the huge Northern Machine-building Enterprise SEVMASH (Северное Машиностроительное Предприятие-СЕВМАШ).

During World War II, a significant portion of the materials delivered by the Arctic Convoys to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk for the Soviet Union were unloaded in Severodvinsk.

[16] On 8 August 2019, a nuclear accident took place on Russian Navy's Central Missile Range in Nyonoksa, 30 km to the west from Severodvinsk.

The city is located near the Nikolsky mouth of the Northern Dvina at its confluence with the White Sea, 35 km northwest of Arkhangelsk, administrative centre of the region.

The average winter temperature is lower than in the central, southern and even some northern (such as Saint-Petersburg) regions of the European part of Russia.

But from May 17 to July 27 white nights are observed in the city.The main role of the city has been, and remains, the production and repair of submarines and military ships.

In addition, the wooden Church Resurrection of Christ, currently located on Yagry Island in the northern part of Severodvinsk, was relocated there in 1990s and was the first religious building open in the city.