Naval submarine Jimmy Carter christened

[TacticalPeek]

Saturday, June 5, 2004 · Last updated 3:48 p.m. PT

Naval submarine Jimmy Carter christened

By DIANE SCARPONI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


GROTON, Conn. -- Former President Jimmy Carter was filled with emotion Saturday as the most advanced nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy was named after him at a Connecticut shipyard.

"This is a very wonderful day for me, to see my wife break the champagne on undoubtedly the finest and most formidable ship in the world," said Carter, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the only submariner to be elected president.

Carter's wife, Rosalynn, blessed the Seawolf-class nuclear submarine and its crew, then hesitated for a moment before cracking the bottle of champagne against the sail of the USS Jimmy Carter.

Amid much fanfare and cheers, a crowd of 4,500 Navy personnel, submarine workers and their families gathered at the Electric Boat shipyard for Saturday's christening ceremony. The Carters' daughter, Amy, also attended the ceremony.

more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Carter%20Submarine

[PartyPooper]

1. Congratulations, Jimmy!

:toast:

[bluestateguy]

2. I want a USS Bill Clinton

Just to piss off the manly military types.

[Demonaut]

29. submarines are cigar shaped

lol, it would be ironic

[Pepperbelly]

62. AND ... they always go down! nt

[JohnLocke]

3. Wow! Go Jimmy Carter!

[Submariner]

4. She's a BIG sumbich

[NewYorkerfromMass]

36. That's an understatement

hats off to all of you subs- you're a special breed.

[Demonaut]

51. Ever see an Aircraft Carrier in drydock?

way bigger

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

57. They just look bigger on television...

[Demonaut]

63. well that could be the case too but I worked on the USS Constellation thru

drydock and it is bigger

[cmf]

5. Yay! Congratulations President Carter!

As the wife of a nuclear submariner, I am happy to see this day come!

[hlthe2b]

6. FINALLY.... very appropriate. We're proud of you, Jimmy!

[Sannum]

7. Why this is a happy surprise

May God bless her, and all who sail in her:7

[Shipwack]

8. Hate to be a wet blanket, but...

As much as I want to honor Carter in general, and for his firing of Admiral Rickover ::spit:: in particular, I still dislike to see ships named after living people...

Oh well, at least there's another sub out there to share the load.

[madrchsod]

21. he fired him???

pay back is a bitch..if i remember carter served under Rickover. i think carter really didn`t like him during that time...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

41. Nobody liked Rickover...he was overbearing, egotistical, and...

...thought he answered to no one.

[JoFerret]

60. Machines of death

I agree with the naming after living people. All politicians are controversial figures. Imagine having to serve in the US Ronald Reagan! Or the USToyBoat The George W. Bush

[Sporadicus]

9. A Fitting Tribute

to a great president and former Naval officer.

[Name removed]

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[Lars39]

12. Jimmy was a vet; a submariner.

He served honorably, unlike bush* who ducked out before his time was up.

[northzax]

31. or Ronnie

don't forget the great communicator making 'training films'

[Media_Lies_Daily]

44. And then Ronnie worked with McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover....

...to turn people in that they believed were "communist sympathizers". They ruined quite a few good people in the film business.

[JoFerret]

61. Ronnie wore the clothes but

that's about all. Like GWB he liked to play dress-up and cut brush. Like GWB he ducked to chance to actually serve. And WW2 was the so-called good war. Unlike GWB he rode a horse.

[Name removed]

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[slinkerwink]

16. lol! a classic freeper comment......

He fought for what was right---in the name of peace, not war.

[Name removed]

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[MercutioATC]

18. You're going to have to try a little harder...

Jimmy Carter may have been badmouthed, but he wasn't a poor President at all. He's one of the more enlightened people we've had in that office.

...where'd THAT rant come from?

[madrchsod]

19. what the fuck are you talking about?

[lumpy]

20. It will make sense if you can

bother to educate yourself about Carter's background and career. He had the backbone and intelligence to gain respect in the world unlike the man who has put this country behind the eight ball, George W. Bush.

[slinkerwink]

22. by the way, Jimmy Carter was a US Marine unlike Bush who went AWOL

[jmowreader]

38. Carter was a Naval nuclear officer

IIRC he was a submariner, explaining why they named a sub, not an aircraft carrier, after him.

If they build a USS Bill Clinton, I'd like for it to be a frigate.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[KittyWampus]

26. Carter Was Smart Enough To Be On A Nuclear Sub

only the cream of the crop get there.

And when Three Mile Island happened, Carter actually UNDERSTOOD what was going on.

[david_vincent]

33. Carter has a degree in nuclear engineering

from Union College. For a moment, just imagine what it must be like to slog through those textbooks and get a real handle on it all.
Unlike our current anti-intellectual occupant of the White House, who was given a free ride by those sycophants in the Ivy League.

[Name removed]

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[RoyGBiv]

32. Very well said!!!

Excellent.

:kick:

[saracat]

30. His skill and diplomacy brought hostages

back alive though crdit was given to the new president, on as the return was on Inaugaration Day. Ironic ,isn't it, that Carter didn't take credit for what came to fruition mere minutes after his watch was over, and Bush continues to blame Clinton for events transpiring years after he has left office? Carter was a classy guy and a naval officer. His IQ is rated the highest of any of the twentieth century presidents. The appellation "ignorant ass" with no backbone would more correctly be decriptive of the current idiot awol occupent of the White House. And, oh, yes, Dumbya also likes puppies!

[Vogon_Glory]

37. Carefully-Nourished Right-wing Lies About Carter

People who choose to believe right-wing lies about James Earl Carter's alleged "spinelessness" would do well to acquaint themselves with Christopher and Annette Drew's book Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage (NYC: Harper Collins, 1999). President Carter, for all that he might have been more foresightful in Afghanistan and Iran, had a fairly aggressive anti-Soviet espionage campaign going on. He did not short the US submarine forces.

As it turned out in subsequently declassified Soviet archives, the Soviet Army's troopers weren't 10 feet tall after all. The weapons programs that Ray-Gun boasted about had had their start in the Carter White House. In retrospect, many of the weapons programs cancellations Carter made still make strategic sense. The B-2 is a hideously expensive aircraft without a mission since the end of the Cold War, and the same can be said of the B-1. The cruise missile programs, supported by Carter, have proved invaluable in the war against the Taliban and against the genocidal Milosevic regime in the Balkans.

James Earl Carter was a President who was a lot better than many of us gave him credit for.

[Name removed]

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[Sporadicus]

11. I Propose That No Nuclear Submarine Be Named After *

until he can pronounce 'nuclear.'

[TahitiNut]

13. It should be "USB Jimmy Carter"

A submarine is not a 'ship' but a 'boat.' It's disappointing to hear Jimmy call it wrong.

[whistle]

23. A submarine is a boat because.....

...the Germans from WWI made it so? Das Boot! Or is it not a ship because the U.S. Admiralty could not fathom naming a vessel without an exterior deck and bridge a ship? Wait till the military brings out an underwater aircraft carrier. What will that be called?

Don't laugh, rocket planes are here already, just have to figure out how to retrieve them underwater.

[TacticalPeek]

27. He knows. He's just speakng civilian.

He headed the Navy crew that helped build the Seawolf, the second nuclear sub (Nautilus was first).

Besides, it's just hard to call anything that looks like the pic in post #4 a 'boat'.

:)

[pacifictiger]

40. Boat is a nickname for a submarine.

Submarines are considered ships, not boats. See chapter 12, "Naval Ships and Aircraft" of the BMR (Basic Military Requirements) NAVEDTRA 12043, or Chapter 13 "Ships and Aircraft" of the Bluejacket's Manual. The BMR in it's glossary defines 'boat' as "A small craft capable of being carried aboard a ship", and defines a ship as "Any large seagoing vessel capable of extended independent operation".

In the sailing era 'boat'traditionally meant a small vessel rowed by oars and without sails. In other words, boats are intended for short trips, whereas ships have the storage capacity for an extended voyage.

[rppper]

50. submariners call subs "boats" because it's......

....a submarine navy/surface navy thing...nothing more, nothing less...and it does have some history in the German navy, as they were known as "undersea-boats"....

when a typical sub is moored pier side, you are only seeing about 1/10th of the boat, the rest being underwater. modern subs typically outweigh their surface counterparts.....example...a modern Burke destroyer weighs about 8400 tons, while the USS Jimmy Carter weighs around 9200 tons submerged. an Ohio class missile sub weighs in at 18,800 tons submerged and nearly 560 ft long, making them the heaviest warships in the navy next to the aircraft carriers.

look...a picture of carter underway and serving, unlike the current resident...

[TahitiNut]

52. Yup. The 'weight' of anything submerged is equal to the 'weight' ...

... of the displaced water. If it weighed less, it'd float (like a ship or surface boat). If it weighed more, it'd be called the Thresher. :dunce:

Two years at the US Coast Guard Academy (across the Thames from Groton, btw) taught me that there're two kinds of "boat" - watercraft that are carried aboard a "ship" and submarines. I learned that from a boatswain named John Paul Jones. (ISYN)

:scratching head: I'm kinda surprised nobody mentioned Electric Boat and why it's called that.




It's too bad this somewhat playful post got taken so deadly seriously. (sigh) Oh well.

[Name removed]

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[w4rma]

15. Now that's a ship I'd be proud to serve on. (nt)

[UrbScotty]

34. What a coincidence! It happened on the same day his successor died.

???????????????

[troublemaker]

35. Two wrongs don't make a right

I think naval vessels used to never be named for the living--maybe I'm wrong, but that's my recollection. A sub called the Carter doesn't make up for a ship named the Reagan. It's a corrupt practice.

But Americans want things NOW!

[pacifictiger]

42. maybe there are too many ships

and all the dead heros are spoken for?

Here's a link to a site outlining the protocols and background on naming military ships. http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/names.htm

[Name removed]

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[WannaJumpMyScooter]

48. That changed a while ago. Aircraft Carriers used to be named

for sea battles, Submarines for "denziens of the deep" and Battleships for states.

Now we have Subs named after Cities (which used to be cruisers) subs named after States, subs named after people, Carriers named after people, alive and dead, and God knows what else.

The Navy changes it's naming conventions to meet various demands. Funding from Congress for the most part.

[TahitiNut]

53. Precognitive Newsflash! Here's the USS George W. Bush!!

[KDLarsen]

56. You know, I could have sworn it was this

[JI7]

54. great, Carter deserves it

he is a veteran

[Cooley Hurd]

55. A wonderful and poignant honor for President Carter!

...being an early nuclear submariner.

[underpants]

58. Imust have missed the daylong CNN coverage of the speeches

and the whole ceremony like when George HW Bush had a ship named after him.

[JoFerret]

59. Christened??

...that's unfortunate!
However, if anyone deserves his own naval naming Carter does.