Jimmy Carter Takes Sub Dive

Former President Carter completed his first submarine dive since he left the Navy in 1953 aboard a new nuclear vessel that bears his name.

The USS Jimmy Carter pulled into this Navy submarine base Friday after a night of cruising below the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the Georgia coast.

It is the first submarine named after a living ex-president. Carter, 80, was a submariner during his time in the Navy after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy.

He stood on the flying bridge of the submarine secured by a red harness as the vessel came into the St. Mary's River and tied up to a dock at King's Bay Naval Submarine Base.

"This is an element of my life, I would say is almost pre-eminent," Carter said.

He was accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, and a crew of 151.

It was the first submarine dive for 77-year-old Rosalynn Carter, who said she watched through the periscope as the vessel slipped beneath the water.

"It was an incredible experience for me," she said.

The new submarine was on its way to some training exercises at an undisclosed location after leaving Groton, Conn., where it was built by General Dynamics Electric Boat Division.

It is the third and final Seawolf class of attack submarines ordered by the Pentagon during the final years of the Cold War. The 453-foot, 12,000-ton submarine has a 50-torpedo payload and eight torpedo tubes. According to intelligence experts, it can tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them.

"This is the finest ship in this Navy or in any Navy," Carter said immediately after the dive. "No other submarine has ever been like this."

The $3.2 billion vessel can reach speeds of more than 25 knots and carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and anti-submarine torpedoes. It is engineered to be quieter than the other two Seawolf submarines, making it better for surveillance.

To ensure that the last Seawolf wasn't obsolete before it hit the water, the Pentagon delayed production to install a 100-foot hull extension, making the ship much longer than its sister ships.