USS ''Jimmy Carter'' (SSN-23) is the third and final

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

fast-attack submarine in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. Commissioned in 2005, she is named for the 39th

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, the only president to have qualified on submarines. The only submarine to have been named for a living president, ''Jimmy Carter'' is also one of the few vessels, and only the third submarine of the US Navy, to have been named for a living person. Extensively modified from the original design of her class, she is sometimes described as a subclass unto herself.

History

Construction

The contract to build ''Jimmy Carter'' was to the

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power ...

Division of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Corporation in

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

on 29 June 1996, and her keel was laid on 5 December 1998. Original schedules called for ''Jimmy Carter'' to be commissioned in late 2001 or early 2002. Electric Boat was awarded an $887 million extension to the ''Jimmy Carter'' contract on 10 December 1999 to modify the boat for testing new submarine systems and classified missions previously carried out by . During modification, her hull was extended to create a 2,500-ton supplementary middle section which forms a Multi-Mission Platform (MMP). This section is fitted with an ocean interface for divers, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and special operation equipment; ROV handling system, storage, and deployment space for mission systems, and a pressure-resistant passage between the fore and aft parts of the submarine to accommodate the boat's crew.RADM Davis, J. P
USS JIMMY CARTER (SSN23): Expanding Future SSN Missions
Undersea Warfare, Fall 1999, pp. 16-18. ''Jimmy Carter'' was christened on 5 June 2004, and the ship sponsor was former First Lady

Rosalynn Carter Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; ; August 18, 1927 – November 19, 2023) was an American activist and humanitarian who served as the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. Throughout her decades of ...

. One result of the changes was that ''Jimmy Carter'' was commissioned more than six years after and almost four months after the commissioning of , the first of the subs. ''Jimmy Carter'' has additional maneuvering devices fitted fore and aft that allow her to keep station over selected targets in odd currents. Intelligence experts speculate that the MMP may find use in missions as an underwater splicing chamber for optical fiber cables.

Deployments

On 19 November 2004 ''Jimmy Carter'' completed alpha

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s, her first voyage in the open seas. On 22 December, Electric Boat delivered ''Jimmy Carter'' to the US Navy, and she was commissioned 19 February 2005 at NSB New London. ''Jimmy Carter'' began a transit from NSB New London to her new homeport at the Bangor Annex of Naval Base Kitsap, Washington on 14 October 2005 but was forced to return when an unusually high wave caused damage while the submarine was running on the surface. The damage was repaired and ''Jimmy Carter'' left New London the following day, arriving at Bangor the afternoon of 9 November 2005. In April and September 2017 ''Jimmy Carter'' returned twice to her homeport at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, flying a

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger was the England, ensign flown by a piracy, pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the latter part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The vast majority of such flags flew the motif of a human skull, or � ...

flag, traditionally indicative of a successful mission.

Awards

*2007 Battle Efficiency Award, commonly known as a "Battle E". *2012 Battle Efficiency Award. *2013 Presidential Unit Citation, the equivalent to the Navy Cross for the entire ship, for what has been reported as "Mission 7."

Gallery

File:USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) flying Jack.jpg, ''Jimmy Carter'' during the submarine's commissioning ceremony, 19 February 2005 File:US Navy 050812-N-1550W-019 The Sea Wolf-class attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) departs Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay for a one-night underway that included an embark by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosa.jpg, Departing NSB Kings Bay with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter aboard, 2005 File:Jimmy Carter with model of SSN-23.jpg, Former President Carter holding a model of the boat that carries his name. File:USS Jimmy Carter being depermed.jpg, ''Jimmy Carter'' in the Magnetic Silencing Facility at Naval Base Kitsap for her first

deperming Degaussing, or deperming, is the process of decreasing or eliminating a remnant magnetic field. It is named after the gauss, a unit of magnetism, which in turn was named after Carl Friedrich Gauss. Due to magnetic hysteresis, it is generally not ...

treatment.

References

External links

*
Navy Commissions USS ''Jimmy Carter''
, from the Navy's Commander Submarine Group Two website

oralhistoryproject.com: World War II Submarine Veterans History Project

USS ''Jimmy Carter'' Multi-Mission Platform
in PDF format *

James Bamford James Bamford (born September 15, 1946) is an American author, journalist and documentary producer noted for his writing about United States intelligence agencies, especially the National Security Agency (NSA). ''The New York Times'' has calle ...

br>Inside the National Security Agency (Lecture)

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

KUOW-FM KUOW-FM (94.9 MHz) is a National Public Radio member station in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest of the three full-fledged NPR member stations in the Seattle and Tacoma media market, with two Tacoma-based stations, KNKX and KVTI being t ...

PRX NPR 24 February 2007 (53: minutes)
Big Brother Is Listening
by

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' April 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jimmy Carter (Ssn-23) 2004 ships Submarines of the United States Carter Espionage devices Espionage techniques Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy Seawolf-class submarines Ships built in Groton, Connecticut Jimmy Carter