Jimmy Carter Underway

Finally! PCU Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) got underway on Alpha Sea Trials yesterday from Groton. (This link to an article in The Day will require registration to see later this week; I'll try to find a more permanent link later.) I just hope they don't come back into port flying a broom from their sail like Virginia (and, in 1996, Seawolf) did at the conclusion of their Alpha trials (see broom to the right and left, respectively, of the US flags in the linked pictures). Traditionally, a submarine flies a broom from their sail at the conclusion of a wartime mission when they destroyed all targets they engaged; they've "swept the sea clean" of their enemies. Although Alpha Trials can certainly be exciting (I've been on three) they don't even come close to a wartime patrol.