USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) is an American nuclear powered fighter submarine (SSN). The keel under this vessel was laid in 1998, the launch took place in 2004, and the entry into service with the US Navy took place in 2005. The total length of the ship is 138 m, width 12.1 m, and the underwater displacement is about 12,100 tons. The maximum underwater speed exceeds 30 knots. The ship has eight 670 mm torpedo tubes.
USS Jimmy Carter is one of the Seawolf-class ships. Units of this type were developed and put into production as a completely new structure, intended to first complement and then replace the Los Angeles-class ships (also of the 688i). Units of this type were planned as highly specialized fighter ships, designed to fight Soviet submarines in their home waters. In order to carry out such ambitious tasks, when designing Seawolf class ships, great emphasis was placed on soundproofing them, the greatest possible immersion depth thanks to the use of HY-100 steel and considerable underwater speed clearly exceeding 30 knots. In addition, ships of this class received excellent electronic and hydroacoustic equipment, almost certainly far superior to the solutions used on the then Soviet ships. However, such strict standards resulted in the creation of probably the best fighter ships in the world, but the cost of which significantly exceeded the initial assumptions, and the estimated price for one ship of this class - depending on the methodology - is given between 3 and 3.5 billion dollars, which makes them the most expensive ships of this type in the world! High production costs, as well as the end of the Cold War, led to the launch of only three units of this type. Among these ships is the USS Jimmy Carter, which was built at the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. It is worth adding that compared to the two previous ships of this class, it is much longer (by as much as 30 meters!) And has a greater underwater displacement (by about 3,000 tons!). It is also adapted to support special forces operations, which caused a lot of controversy at the time of launching and entering the service.