The nuclear sub that got its name from a president
Did former US President Jimmy Carter ever serve in the Navy?
I ask because I know that there is a USS Jimmy Carter, presumably named after him – and if he did, did he see active service during the Second World War? – J.
Raised in a wealthy family of peanut farmers in the southern town of Plains in Georgia, Carter graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946 with a bachelor of science degree and joined the United States Navy, where he was commissioned as an ensign and served on submarines.
From 1946 to 1953, Carter and his wife Rosalynn lived in Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York and California, during his deployments in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. He did not serve in the Second World War, though he did serve on active duty during the Korean War era, but not in the Korean area.
In 1953 Carter began a course covering nuclear power plant operation, with the intent to eventually work aboard USS Seawolf, one of the first two US nuclear subs. However, his father died suddenly and Carter had to leave the Navy to take over the family peanut business.
Of course, he would eventually enter politics, becoming a Georgia State Senator from 1963-67 and Governor from 1971-75.
He became the 39th President in 1977, defeating Republican Gerald Ford.
In 2004, the USS Jimmy Carter, a Seawolf-class, nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarine, was named in his honour.