Navy to name submarine after former president Jimmy Carter
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The USS Jimmy Carter will be the third and last of the Seawolf class of attack submarines.
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April 8, 1998
Web posted at: 5:01 a.m. EDT (0901 GMT)
From CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CNN has learned the U.S. Navy will name the third and final submarine of the Seawolf class the "USS Jimmy Carter", after the 39th President of the United States.
Pentagon sources tell CNN the decision to name the submarine for Carter will be announced by Navy Secretary John Dalton at the Pentagon Wednesday.
Carter was a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and served as an officer aboard some of the first nuclear submarines. He served in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, and was the only president to qualify as a submariner.
Carter served one term as President and Commander-in-Chief of the military from 1977 to 1981.
The Seawolf class of submarines is the newest, fastest submarine in the U.S. fleet. The Navy originally planned to build 32 of the attack subs, but reduced the total to three after the end of the Cold War. The Navy is now building a new, cheaper attack submarine.
Sources say Dalton will host President and Mrs. Carter at a Pentagon naming ceremony Monday, April 27.
No previous U.S. Navy ships have been named Jimmy Carter.