Gary Farber's home blog is Amygdala.
Perhaps it's just my perspective, but the Navy doesn't seem to be going out of its way to publicize this.The headline on the press release simply says "Navy To Christen Submarine," which is not terribly exciting. The rest has some less usual aspects:
The Department of Defense announced today that the Navy’s newest Seawolf class nuclear-powered submarine Jimmy Carter will be christened Saturday during an 11 a.m. ET ceremony at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn.Good luck to Captain Kelso and his crew.The submarine, Jimmy Carter, honors the 39th president of the United States. Carter is the only U.S. president to qualify in submarines. He has distinguished himself by a lifetime of public service, and has long ties to the Navy and the submarine force. He is a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, served as an officer aboard submarines while in uniform, and served as commander-in-chief from 1977-1981. Carter's statesmanship, philanthropy and sense of humanity have made him one of the most influential Americans of the late 20th century.
[...]
The Jimmy Carter is the third and final submarine of the Seawolf class.
[...]
Differentiating the Jimmy Carter from all other undersea vessels is its multi-mission platform (MMP), which includes a 100-foot hull extension to enhance payload capability. The MMP will enable the Jimmy Carter to accommodate the advanced technology required to develop and test new generation of weapons, sensors and undersea vehicles for naval special warfare, tactical surveillance and mine-warfare operations.
I can only imagine possible reactions to this from various sources.
I have to ask: is the MMP peanut capable?
Read The Rest Scale: 2 out of 5 if you want a bit more detail.
JK UPDATE: DefenseTech.org has more, and notes that the sub may be optimized for spy work.
Gosh, they certainly seemed to have gotten a lot of coverage for their meager PR efforts.
These rather vanilla releases are standard fare for DoD, regardless of which party the ship's namesake comes from. If there is any lack of fanfare, it is only because the Navy chose to name a Seawolf SSN, instead of a carrier, after Carter -- a decision made during the Clinton administration, mind you.
Yeah, I'd say it's just your perspective, Farber. And not a very informed one at that.
"Yeah, I'd say it's just your perspective, Farber. And not a very informed one at that."
I'm sorry you didn't find it amusing, Mr. Herbert.
USS Jimmy Carter... why?
The poor crew. I'm sure they are really proud of their boat's namesake. Will a cloud of malaise and despair hang over the crew? Just because Jimmy Cater was a submariner doesn't mean we have to have a sub named after him.
Only 3 Seawolves are being produced? What's so great about them that all that R&D cost couldn't have gone into upgrading the Los Angeles class attack submarines the Navy already has.
Lot of reasons he got a Sub instead of a carrier. "Carter is the only U.S. president to qualify in submarines". If you qualified in submarines you would understand why this is better then a large floating target called a carrier. The submarine community tends to dislike surface ship duty. They are generally refereed to as "Skimmers" with "Skimmer Pukes" onboard. All in good fun of course. I still have 2 t-shirts that say on the front "There are only two types of ships" "Submarines" picture of a submarine; On the back "and Targets" picture of a carrier in periscope crosshairs. These were sold on most sub bases in the 80's. Yes, it was a US carrier. Also when the surface Navy came out with the look alike wannabe Dolphins pin called the surface warfare thingy. It didn't sit to well because submarine qualifications are very rare and difficult.
As far as the crew and how they feel about being on a boat called the Jimmy Carter I'm sure they are not thrilled but it will get a nickname and they will have fierce loyalty to their boat soon.
BKT
"What's so great about them that all that R&D cost couldn't have gone into upgrading the Los Angeles class attack submarines the Navy already has."
Faster, quieter, dives deeper. But they were designed to go against a powerful Soviet sub fleet that essentially no longer exists, and they're incredibly expensive, and no longer have any mission that remotely justifies producing more at such a huge price, so the program was cancelled.
Jimmy Carter, the most honest man, and worst president, the USA has had since WW II.
The only US president I ever voted for -- more because Ford pardoned Nixon than because I was at Annapolis. Never voted for the great Reagan, I became Libertarian.
I'd guess the "JC" will be a common nickname, with appropriate god allusions.
Update:
It looks like a few nicknames are starting to gather traction......"The Peanut" and "The Jimmie C (sea)". I agree with Tom "JC" will hae a good chance. I will contact a few buddies still on the boats and have them follow. There is also a website somewhere that tracks all navy ships and boats nicknames...I will see if I can find it. Also Carter was already quaoted as saying " I would rather have a submarine named after me then an airport"
There is already a JC, The USS Jefferson City.