The Navy’s 450 feet long heavily modified Seawolf Class submarine, the USS Jimmy Carter SSN-23, is quieter than any other nuclear submarine on Earth.
Images credit wikimedia/Department of Defense
The USS Seawolf Class submarine Jimmy Carter has a 12,150 ton displacement, can dive incredibly deep, reaching speeds approaching 40 knots, and is armed with 50 weapons and wide 660mm torpedo tubes.
USS Jimmy Carter is roughly 100 feet (30 m) longer than the other two boats of her class due to the insertion of a section known as the Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which allows launch and recovery of ROVs and United States Navy SEALs forces. The MMP may also be used as an underwater splicing chamber for tapping of undersea fiber optic cables. This role was formerly filled by the decommissioned USS Parche (SSN-683). Jimmy Carter was modified for this role by General Dynamics Electric Boat at the cost of $887 million.
Seawolf Class Statistics
Builders: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Displacement: 9,137 tons submerged (12,139 tons for the Jimmy Carter)
Length: 353 feet (453 feet for the Jimmy Carter)
Hull Diameter: 40 feet
Draft: 35 feet
Speed: 25+ knots (28+ miles per hour, 46.3+ kph)
Diving Depth: 800+ feet
Weapons: Mark 48 anti-submarine torpedoes (8 tubes), Tomahawk cruise missiles
Stealth: Less detectable at high speed than a Los Angeles-class submarine sitting at pier side
Crew: 13 Officers; 121 Enlisted
Ships of the Class
USS Seawolf (SSN21)
USS Connecticut (SSN22)
Jimmy Carter (SSN23)
via foxtrotalpha
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