GROTON, Connecticut (AP) -- The USS Jimmy Carter entered the Navy's fleet Saturday as the most heavily armed submarine 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 was commissioned Saturday, the first submarine named after a living ex-president.
Carter, himself a submariner during his time in the Navy, was on hand for the ceremony signaling the end of an era in submarining.
"The most deeply appreciated and emotional honor I've ever had is to have this great ship bear my name," Carter said in remarks prepared for the ceremony at the Naval Submarine Base New London.
Carter was joined by his wife, Rosalynn, former Vice President Walter Mondale and his wife, Joan, and Stansfield Turner, CIA director in the Carter administration.
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. read more »
Friday, February 25, 2005
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