[gridlock]

So the three subs in the class are the USS Seawolf, the USS Connecticut, and the USS Jimmy Carter? What naming convention are they using for this class? Whatever strikes Congress as a good idea the day the funding is appropriated?

[Johnny_Cipher]

What naming convention are they using for this class?

Attack subs used to be named after fish and boomers after cities. But, as somebody once sagely noted, "Fish don't vote."

[StoneColdGOP]

So the three subs in the class are the USS Seawolf, the USS Connecticut, and the USS Jimmy Carter? What naming convention are they using for this class? Whatever strikes Congress as a good idea the day the funding is appropriated?

Pretty much, they couldn't decide who or what they wanted to pay tribute to more. They originally named it the lead ship "Seawolf" and gave it hull number SSN-21 in rcognition that it would be the Navy's 21st Century attack boat. Then, since the Ohio SSBNs are done with construction, they started giving state names to these SSNs, since the previous Los Angeles class used city names. So SSN-22 got "Connecticut". Then they decided to pay tribute to Silent Service president Jimmy Carter with SSN-23.

The Congress killed the "Seawolf" class after only 3 boats because it was too expensive. Now they have the new under-contruction "Virginia" class SSNs being assigned state names and taking hull numbers where the 688 "Los Angeles" class left off (780-something, I think).