The Jimmy Carter (SSN-23 ),Third and Final Seawolf Submarine, Christened Saturday 5 June 2004

Since 07-09-04

The Jimmy Carter, Third and Final Seawolf Submarine, to be Christened Saturday PRNewswire.com, 01 Jun 04

GROTON, Conn., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- General Dynamics Electric Boat will christen the Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), the U.S. Navy's newest and most advanced nuclear attack submarine, at a ceremony at its shipyard here Saturday, June 5 at 11 a.m.  Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics.

    Ship sponsor is Rosalyn Carter, the wife of former President Carter, who will also participate in the ceremony.  The event's principal speaker is James R. Schlesinger, who served under President Carter as the nation's first secretary of energy.  Capt. (Sel) Robert D. Kelso, a 1983 graduate of Virginia Tech, is the ship's prospective commanding officer.

    The Jimmy Carter honors the 39th president of the United States - the only submarine-qualified man who went on to become the nation's chief executive.  As the last and most advanced of the three-ship Seawolf class, the Jimmy Carter will have built-in flexibility that gives it the power to prevail in any scenario and against any threat -- from beneath Arctic ice to shallow water.

    Differentiating the Jimmy Carter from all other undersea vessels is its Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which includes a 100-foot hull extension that enhances payload capability, enabling it to accommodate advanced technology required to develop and test an entirely new generation of weapons, sensors and undersea vehicles.

    Additionally, a dedicated and reconfigurable electronics suite using commercial off-the-shelf technology and open architecture will make it easy to accommodate future payloads and sensors.