Common wisdom in this age of door-to-door combat dictates that the U.S. submarine fleet is of diminishing utility–after all, there are no terrorists hiding underwater. But common wisdom does not so easily apply to the USS Jimmy Carter, a giant Seawolf-class nuclear submarine modified into a spy ship. The submarine, commissioned in February, will serve as a stealthy weapon near enemy shores: tapping into undersea fiber-optic cables, covertly delivering Navy Seals into enemy ports, and, if necessary, directly attacking enemy ships and land-based targets.
