Enquiring minds are asking why the nuclear attack submarine, USS Jimmy Carter, returned to base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington state flying the Skull and Crossbones beside the Stars and Stripes.
The last time I can remember a NATO sub flying the Skull and Crossbones was when HMS Conqueror returned home after sinking the Argentine heavy cruiser, Belgrano.
Nobody is talking about what SSN Jimmy has been up to but it's base in the Pacific Northwest is perfect for forays to North Korea. It's said that the Jimmy Carter is the most secretive attack sub in the US Navy. Its hull was even lengthened a full 100 feet for some purpose, perhaps landing special forces.
Sure looks like a pirate ship (said with fingers pulling mouth sideways).
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The USS Jimmy Carter's been modified not only to deploy Special Forces, but to carry out Spy Missions like tapping into undersea cables.
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ReplyDeleteIt was a Brit sub captain who started the Skull & Crossbones tradition in 1914 in response to a dreadnought admiral who dismissed submarines as "nothing better than pirates."
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with the Carter's clandestine role, Jay, but that flag is traditionally reserved for something a good deal more dramatic as in the case of Conqueror and Belgrano.
The skull and cross bones in modern times would seem to be a youthfull projection of masculinity.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Roger
It has not always been that way.
These expressions of youthful sexual awareness in the armed forces were not always so acceptable even a few decades ago.
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