USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) Enters Service

[highsea]

USS Jimmy Carter Commissioned in Conn.

Sat Feb 19, 6:21 PM ET
By CARA RUBINSKY, Associated Press Writer

GROTON, Conn. - The USS Jimmy Carter entered the Navy's fleet Saturday as the most heavily armed submarine ever built, and as the last of the Seawolf class of attack subs that the Pentagon ordered during the Cold War's final years.

The $3.2 billion Jimmy Carter was commissioned Saturday, the first submarine named after a living ex-president. Carter, himself a submariner during his time in the Navy, was on hand for the ceremony signaling the end of an era in submarining.

"The most deeply appreciated and emotional honor I've ever had is to have this great ship bear my name," Carter said in remarks prepared for the ceremony at the Naval Submarine Base New London.

Carter said he expects the crew to use the submarine's "extraordinary capabilities — many top secret — to preserve peace, to protect our country and to keep high the banner of human rights around the world."

The 453-foot, 12,000-ton submarine has a 50-torpedo payload and eight torpedo tubes. And, according to intelligence experts, it can tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them.

It can reach speeds of more than 25 knots and carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and anti-submarine torpedoes, and it is engineered to be quieter than the other two Seawolves, making it better for surveillance.

To ensure that the last Seawolf was not obsolete before it hit the water, the Pentagon delayed production to install a 100-foot hull extension that military analysts say equips the Jimmy Carter to replace the USS Parche, one of the fleet's premier spy subs.

The Parche was decommissioned in October. The Jimmy Carter will be based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington's Kitsap County, the Parche's former home.

After a year of preparation, crew members were looking forward to taking control of the ship

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20050219/ap_on_re_us/uss_jimmy_carter&printer=1

The last of the Seawolfs. Well, this was a long wait, but hopefully it will be worth it. The modifications were pricey, 3.2 Billion total cost for the Jimmy Carter is quite a bit more than the Virginia class boats. The hull extension will allow for UUV deployments, SEALS, etc.

 

[ajay_ijn]

The last of the Seawolfs. Well, this was a long wait, but hopefully it will be worth it. The modifications were pricey, 3.2 Billion total cost for the Jimmy Carter is quite a bit more than the Virginia class boats. The hull extension will allow for UUV deployments, SEALS, etc.

That is the reason May be the construction is slightly delayed.
I think it was to come out last year itself.

Soviet Union Collapse has killed many US Weapons Systems one was B-2 and
now it is SeaWolf.

SeaWolf is the most the powerful Attack Submarine in the world designed to Attack Massive Fleet of Soviet SSBNs.
I would love to watch the fight between the SeaWolf SSN and Typhoon SSBN protected by Severodvinsk Attack SSN.
All these weapons no more exist upto their potential.

I am feeling Sad No More is the Soviet Union.
We would have seen some best weapon Systems if Soviet Union Did not collapse.
Imagine a Fleet of 100 B-2 Bombers.
F-22 would have been already deployed as well as the Mig-1.42.

 

[Pathfinder-X]

Some may feel sad that the Soviet collasped, but I'm glad to know that I won't get a high yield warhead detonating over my head(In case you don't know, I live in Canada).

Getting back to the topic, the boat seems a bit to expensive don't you think? According to globalsecurity.org, Virginia is actually a cheapen version of Seawolf. How credible is that I don't know.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Some may feel sad that the Soviet collasped, but I'm glad to know that I won't get a high yield warhead detonating over my head(In case you don't know, I live in Canada).

Getting back to the topic, the boat seems a bit to expensive don't you think? According to globalsecurity.org, Virginia is actually a cheapen version of Seawolf. How credible is that I don't know.

Diff subs, diff capabilities. As for Globalsecurity/FAS, they're just a better version of Wikpaedia IMO.

 

[ajay_ijn]

Getting back to the topic, the boat seems a bit to expensive don't you think? According to globalsecurity.org, Virginia is actually a cheapen version of Seawolf. How credible is that I don't know.

Is the first Virginia Boat Under Construction??
Seawolf is expensive may be expensive in post cold war but not during Cold war.

I wonder if US SSNs again will ever get the chance of Hunter Killer Missions.

 

[gf0012-aust]

I wonder if US SSNs again will ever get the chance of Hunter Killer Missions.

Apart from ISR, that is one of their primary roles. They still tag "probables".

 

[XEROX]

Any one know the tactical surveillance arm of this sub, btw didnt this sub in tests controll a Predator UAV while submerged

 

[gf0012-aust]

Any one know the tactical surveillance arm of this sub, btw didnt this sub in tests controll a Predator UAV while submerged

tests were done under Exercise "Silent Hammer". There has been no specifics about what type of UAV was launched. However it was a cannister launch - which makes a Predator higly unlikely for this kind of launch.

All US subs are tasked with ISR, so I'm not sure what you mean specifically by TAC surveillance.

 

[XEROX]

My mistake, i was perplexing over the tests by the USS Chicago and not the SSN 23, in which Chicago relayed realtime images submerged

on the USN website it says the SSN 23 may soon include UAVs

www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/n87/usw/issue_5/ussjimmycarter.html

btw do we have any predictions to which cannister UAVs will be used for the SSN 23

 

[highsea]

Is the first Virginia Boat Under Construction??
Seawolf is expensive may be expensive in post cold war but not during Cold war.

I wonder if US SSNs again will ever get the chance of Hunter Killer Missions.

The first of the Virginia class boats (SSN 774 Virginia) was commissioned last October. She will go through a 3 year Op/Eval before going into operational service. The second one (Texas) is done, and the third boat (Hawaii) is under construction. Texas was christened in August 2004, and will commission this year, and Hawaii will commission in 2007.

Virginia's are less expensive than the Jimmy Carter, but more expensive than
the other Seawolfs. Lol, when the Pentagon says something will be cheaper than it's predecessor, they mean it will only cost twice as much...

 

[gf0012-aust]

My mistake, i was perplexing over the tests by the USS Chicago and not the SSN 23, in which Chicago relayed realtime images submerged

on the USN website it says the SSN 23 may soon include UAVs

www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/n87/usw/issue_5/ussjimmycarter.html

btw do we have any predictions to which cannister UAVs will be used for the SSN 23

USS Florida has been acting as a mule for the Virginia weaps systems and sensors. None of the data will be made available for some time. (if at all).

 

[Pendekar]

a little out of topic

is there any other submarines in the worlds besides US that use spherical array?

 

[gf0012-aust]

a little out of topic

is there any other submarines in the worlds besides US that use spherical array?

by spherical array are you talking about 360deg coverage in a single unit on the platform or perimeter coverage via various nodes on the platform itself?

 

[Pendekar]

i mean like what's inside the fore fiber glass sonar dome in LA class or maybe seawolf.

 

[gf0012-aust]

i mean like what's inside the fore fiber glass sonar dome in LA class or maybe seawolf.

If it's a full dome, then the best you'll get is 180deg hemispherical. that assumes that any torps are amidship launched.

on larger subs like the Virginias, Rubins, Collins they use flank arrays, plus towed arrays to get a more complete picture. In the case of the Seawolfs they also carry a chin array for LWA.

 

[highsea]

Here's some new pics of the Jimmy Carter.

http://eyeball-series.org/mmp/jimmy-carter.htm

 

[Pendekar]

I would like to make a comparison between the Russian nuc and the US nuc. since 90s, there a steep drop in acoustic noise generated by the new generations russian subs. i say this trend began by the sierra class which i personally take as a starter for a revolution in russian sub design. new sleek hull design, multiple rafting engines, multi layered non-acoustic hull tiles and probably a new active quietening measures (electronic noise cancelation). there's already a claim that the latest Akula 2 subs is quieter than the Improved Los Angeles class. only the seawolfs put american back at the edge. but there's a rumour that the new severodvinsk will outclass the seawolf (again???).

 

[gf0012-aust]

I would like to make a comparison between the Russian nuc and the US nuc. since 90s, there a steep drop in acoustic noise generated by the new generations russian subs. i say this trend began by the sierra class which i personally take as a starter for a revolution in russian sub design. new sleek hull design, multiple rafting engines, multi layered non-acoustic hull tiles and probably a new active quietening measures (electronic noise cancelation). there's already a claim that the latest Akula 2 subs is quieter than the Improved Los Angeles class. only the seawolfs put american back at the edge. but there's a rumour that the new severodvinsk will outclass the seawolf (again???).

No the Russian subs only improved after they got access to the Toshiba software - and thats for propellor technology. Prop technology is redundant to pump jets. It's like comparing an F-14 to an F-22.

I am going to post a response made by someone else I know to another poster about Russian submarines, in particular the Severodvinsk - this guy is actually in the Russian navy and he and I have had a few discussions off line about new sub technology:

(Russian source)
Severodvinsk nor Dolgoruki are "new generations" you just love to use that word to much. Any guess why they crash-redesigned Dolgoruki back in 2000? And how that is that after 10 years of harsh construction, now all of a sudden that sub got finished? Indeed...

Severodvinsk, if she ever receives that Spherical sonar, which is a lot more power consuming, will still be outdated. Since there's no money for developing new sonars, they used the sonar that was tested on Akson-2, the one that was intended for the Type945B Mars (Sierra III if I recall correctly), five of those subs were under construction back in 1992 when they were all scrapped, gives you an idea of how "new generation" they will be. In the case of Russia, yes they are new generation, in the case of the world, they are not.

As Garry said, the time of construction doesn't make a sub good or bad. Chinese built nuclear submarines Han class and Xia too, a lot later than some Western Nations, but does that mean they are more advanced? I think we all know the answer to that!

(from enquirer)

with massive computing power avilable , sophisticatd and suprsensitive sensors/array devloped and also advancment in th devopmnt of passiv sonars ( speherical ones as the one you seeon seawolf,virg and sev ) detcting subs evn whose noise is lesser than the backgound noise is not an uphill task. notwithstanding the difficulties involved.

To put it mildly sub dtection is a grey/black area with each country protecting its secret like family jewel, we really dont know what the other side has or any new technology/means of detection devloped not known so far or is unconventional.

(Russian source)
What do you know about that? First you ask what he meant with background noise is stronger than Kilo's and now you're going to make some "I'm very sure" statements about that very same matter?

There are some basics you cannot overcome, not with computing power or software... This is physics, something mankind created, there are limits to such things! Not everything can be solved with computers, you should realise that. Otherwise, hell why aren't we living on Mars or a even a better planet than earth yet???

Read between the lines. There is a tonne of information if you pay attention to what has been said. Russias economy is not supporting major changes in R&D - even for the Navy which was the jewel in the crown. Just bear in mind that close to 80% of the penanted fleet is unable to deploy to sea, and that in the last 3 years alone, over 25 nukes have been broken up. They can't afford to keep them going let alone build hi-tech solutions.

They are nowhere near gaining on the Seawolf/Virginia technology.

 

[Pendekar]

is there any europeans subs, nuclear or conventional, can match seawolf in term of acoustic.

 

[gf0012-aust]

is there any europeans subs, nuclear or conventional, can match seawolf in term of acoustic.

IMO, no. I'm not going to go into absolute details, but in my work I have to know the relative signatures of all subs being used.

The other key contributor to subwarfare is training and experience. Subs that don't get high sea time, don't practice against other navies, that don't practice in busy sea lanes, that don't have access to sophisticated datum points and datasets will be handicapped.

There are very few navies that embrace all the things that I think are critical to stay efficient and high performing. It's an expensive business - far more complicated than any other single active platform in any military structure.

Subs have taken over the role of recce aircraft during thye cold war, as such the risks are higher and the tempo far more intensive.