On the day following Jimmy Carter’s funeral, it seems like a good time to look at the top-secret submarine that bears his name.
The USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) is a unique submarine in many respects. Commissioned in 2005, she is named for the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, the only president to have qualified on submarines. She is the only submarine to have been named for a living president and is also only the third submarine of the US Navy, to have been named for a living person.
Technically, she is the final of only three Seawolf-class fast attack submarines to ever have been built, although the Jimmy Carter has been so heavily modified, that she has been described as a subclass of her own. As modified, the USS Jimmy Carter is not just a fast attack submarine. She is fully outfitted as a spy submarine ready to undertake top-secret and hazardous missions.
While under construction, her hull was extended 100 feet (30 m) to create a 2,500-ton supplementary middle section which forms a Multi-Mission Platform (MMP). This section is fitted with an ocean interface for divers, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and special operation equipment; ROV handling system, storage, and deployment space for mission systems, and a pressure-resistant passage between the fore and aft parts of the submarine to accommodate the boat’s crew. Other modifications to the Jimmy Carter included a set of precision thrusters, both fore and aft, that allow the sub to hold its position perfectly within space while conducting sensitive mechanical operations or when quietly trawling shallow waters.
Mission 7 & the Jolly Roger
What top-secret missions has the USS Jimmy Carter undertaken? The honest answer is that we won’t officially know for another decade or more. Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that Jimmy Carter has embarked upon a number of top-secret and very successful spying missions. One in particular stands out — the so-called Mission 7.
On Jan. 20, 2013, USS Jimmy Carter left her homeport in Bangor, Washington. Less than two months later, the submarine appeared at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for repairs. When she arrived she was flying a Jolly Roger flag beside the American flag. The flying of the Jolly Roger on a submarine can be traced back to the submarines of the Royal Navy, who first used the flag during World War I as a sign of a successful mission.
But what was Jimmy Carter‘s successful mission? That remains top-secret, but whatever it was the voyage, designated as Mission 7, was sufficiently perilous and important to earn the ship and its crew a Presidential Unit Citation for “extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.” The citation read that the ship “performed under a wide range of adverse and extremely stressful conditions without external support,” adding that “this deployment continued USS Jimmy Carter‘s tradition of excellence in pursuit of vital national security goals.”
Mission 7 was not the last time that USS Jimmy Carter would fly the Jolly Roger. Several times in the recent past, official Navy photos show the sub returning to home port with the same flag being flown from the sail.
The Secret Submarine Mission that Doesn’t Officially Exist – Mission 7 – USS Jimmy Carter