It ain't the ship, it's the NAME.
Posted on 02/18/2005 5:00:53 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Experts: New Sub Can Tap Undersea Cables
* USS Jimmy Carter Will Be Based In Washington State
Feb 18, 2005 4:55 pm US/Eastern WASHINGTON (AP) The USS Jimmy Carter, set to join the nation’s submarine fleet on Saturday, will have some special capabilities, intelligence experts say: It will be able to tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them.
The Navy does not acknowledge the $3.2 billion submarine, the third and last of the Seawolf class of attack subs, has this capability.
“That’s going to be classified in nature,” said Kevin Sykes, a Navy spokesman. “You’re not going to get anybody to talk to you about that.”
But intelligence community watchdogs have little doubt: The previous submarine that performed the mission, the USS Parche, was retired last fall. That would only happen if a new one was on the way.
Like the Parche, the Carter was extensively modified from its basic design, given a $923 million hull extension that allows it to house technicians and gear to perform the cable-tapping and other secret missions, experts say. The Carter’s hull, at 453 feet, is 100 feet longer than the other two subs in the Seawolf class.
“The submarine is basically going to have as its major function intelligence gathering,” said James Bamford, author of two books on the National Security Agency.
Navy public information touts some of the Carter’s special abilities: In the extended hull section, the boat can provide berths for up to 50 special operations troops, like Navy SEALs. It has an “ocean interface” that serves as a sort of hangar bay for smaller vehicles and drones to launch and return.
(Excerpt) Read more at wcbs880.com ...
Did a northern run on the Bergall in 1988....one time blue nose ;)
Umm...that we've done this with previous espionage subs was documented in extreme detail in a bestselling book years ago.
It's like some analyst speculating that the Joint Strike Fighter might be able to drop bombs that explode.
If I was a bubblehead, I'd love to be billeted on the Jimmy Carter. Why? Because she's brand-spankin' new!
Great picture, BTW.
Guess?
April 2, 1998
Yeah? Well John Glenn used to be an honorable American hero until he sold his reputation and honor. For the price of one last rocket ride, he obstructed the Senate investigation into Communist Chinese campaign contributions to the Democrat party. That stunt lost him his hero status. He is just another disgracefully sleazy retired politician now.
He always was a sleazy poltician, we just found out about it when Clinton used him like a doormat.
Well put.
Blue nose ping...spring of '80/fall of '81
You miss the point. The boat was named "Jimmy Carter" because he was President - thus honoring his Presidency. It was not so named because he was a sub-mariner.
"Lest we forget", Jimmy Carter's watch saw the first real Islamic attack against the United States - 44 US citizens held for 440 days - Carter did nothing until it appeared that his tenure as President was threatened and then pulled off the most ham-fisted military operation the US has seen in recent history.
He presided over an economic "malaise" with interest rates approaching 20% (actually I think they may have touched 21%) and simply wrung his hands over the first of the oil crises, telling everyone to wear sweaters.
There will be brave sailors serving on the Jimmy Carter, but the astute will request transfer to another boat!
I am a former Naval Officer, as well. I would like a more warlike or patriotic name for the sub.
But we are going to need more subs, since Carter gave North Korea the deal to enable them to have nukes.
Just a quick reminder for those of you following the Carter's commissioning on TV:
Jimmy Carter never served on a nuke sub. He was educated as a nuclear (or 'nucular' as the ex-pres would say), but never served a day in the nuke sub fleet. The first one didn't even exist until a year after he left the navy.
I thought old subs did that as well.
Any reader of modern spy/war books by a good author knows it.
While his first book was quite good, he went downhill rapidly. He is pretty much full of it at this point. Stay far away from his newer stuff and any of his talking-head news appearances.
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