Carter Sub Joins Navy’s Fleet

The U.S. attack submarine Jimmy Carter entered the Navy’s fleet Saturday as the most heavily armed sub ever built, and as the last of the Seawolf class of attack subs that the Pentagon ordered during the Cold War’s final years.

The $3.2-billion Jimmy Carter is the first submarine named after a living former U.S. president. Carter, a submariner during his time in the Navy, was on hand for the commissioning ceremony.

“The most deeply appreciated and emotional honor I’ve ever had is to have this great ship bear my name,” President Carter said in remarks prepared for the ceremony at the New London Naval Submarine Base.

Carter was joined by his wife, Rosalynn; former Vice President Walter Mondale and his wife, Joan; and retired Navy Adm. Stansfield Turner, CIA director in the Carter administration.

The 2,500 people on hand Saturday cheered as Carter, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the only president to have served on a submarine, handed the boat’s long glass to the navigator, Lt. Stephen Karpi.

The gesture symbolized the passing of the nation’s maritime tradition to a new vessel. The long glass was used years ago to keep watch on a ship’s deck.

Carter said he expected the crew to use the submarine’s “extraordinary capabilities -- many top secret -- to preserve peace, to protect our country and to keep high the banner of human rights around the world.”

The 453-foot, 12,000-ton submarine has a 50-torpedo payload and eight torpedo tubes. And, according to intelligence experts, it can tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them.

It can reach speeds of more than 25 knots and carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and anti-submarine torpedoes.

John Pike, a military analyst with Globalsecurity.org, said the ceremony closed the book on the big-submarine era. “It was part of our strategy on how we were going to win World War III. It was a significant component in our response to the evil empire.”

The Pentagon delayed production to install a 100-foot hull extension that military analysts said equiped the Jimmy Carter to replace the Parche, one of the fleet’s premier spy subs.

The Parche was decommissioned in October. The Jimmy Carter will be based at the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base in Washington’s Kitsap County, the Parche’s former home.