Submarine USS Jimmy Carter, its special tasks and submarine optical cables

We have such devices
but we will not tell you about them ...

This article arose when collecting additional information for the post Concealed connection to the fiber: methods and precautions . The scale and technical complexity of the activities described in this article deserve the attention of the general public. The translation is, in fact, compiled from several sources. There are no newer articles, but judging by the fact that the boats are going, and the NSA is building up new data centers, everything is going according to plan.

USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) and its special tasks in the oceans

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The USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) is the last nuclear submarine designed by Seawolf. Initially, several dozens of units were supposed to be built on this project, but the collapse of the USSR and the transition of the Cold War with the Russian Federation to the sluggish phase led to a reduction in the financing of the project and the boats turned out to be built only three.

However, from the very beginning, this submarine was assigned a special role.

Back in 1998, the Defense Science Board (DSB), which is a committee of civilian specialists authorized to recommend the use of certain technologies and scientific ideas to the US Department of Defense, developed a new concept of the operational capabilities of submarines and the necessary technological solutions for this. The concept envisaged the possibility of a submarine carrying "unconventional payload for various purposes."

Thus, the nuclear submarine SSN-23 was destined to become a test platform for developing new technologies for the US Navy. One of them was the MMP (Multi-mission project - a multi-purpose project). In 1999, as a result of a long discussion in Congress, which nearly ended with the termination of the project, an order for the production of boats with such capabilities was still approved and received from the US Navy in the Electric Boat Division division of General Dynamics. In the course of work on the boat, its internal volume was increased, allowing it to bear unconventional load.

The planned changes included the extension of the hull after a cabin (an additional 30-meter section) and the installation of a special sluice chamber, called by its designers, the “ocean interface” (OI). The modular architecture of the boat allows you to put into the sea a large payload, which makes it possible to configure the submarine to perform a variety of tasks, while fully preserving its main functions of a warship. The general scheme of the upgraded boat is as follows (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Structural diagram of the submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23)

The compartment OI is unique: it has a horizontal hourglass configuration. With such a streamlined design, all pressure is collected on the “aspen waist”, while a substantial external volume remains available outside the robust hull, but still within the dimensions of the ship. This adds flexibility to the design when adding systems and compartments, at the same time, provides good hydrodynamics of the hull, with minimal impact on the draft of the ship. The OI ensures the launch and subsequent return of both wired and autonomous descent devices, making it possible to avoid the difficulties characteristic of using torpedo tubes for such purposes. The external volume available under the case may contain the necessary additional systems for the operation of special devices. With this approach, the descent vehicles are controlled from a submarine without spending valuable internal volume of compartments, otherwise occupied by cable coils or other additional equipment. OI allows you to lower and lift on board new types of weapons, countermeasures and sensors, which can now be developed without taking into account the dimensional limitations of torpedo tubes or vertical launchers. In addition, the Jimmy Carter can be equipped with a special communication mast and communication system that meets the requirements for transmitting the high amounts of data required for network-centric warfare, as well as DSB-recommended auxiliary maneuvering devices for coastal operations in small areas. go.

Despite the changes in the design that allow the boat to carry RDT & E equipment (research, development, test, and evaluation, research, development, testing and evaluation), the Jimmy Carter boat retains its full military potential. It can keep a watch as part of the naval formation and be used in a submarine war as a strike submarine, engage in observation and reconnaissance tasks, carry out special covert operations, conduct a mine war, and also participate in offensive operations — the same as the other two ships of this same class (Fig. 2)

Fig.2 The armament of the submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) corresponds to other ships of the Seawolf project. ASDS mini submarine visible at the stern

The boat is designed to work out future concepts of naval weapons, countermeasure systems, and non-conventional loads - previously, these tasks were shared between several submarines. Jimmy Carter is able to support the operations of special-purpose units (Special Operations Forces), having the ability to install a dry sluice chamber ( Dry Deck Shelter - (DDS) ) for exiting combat swimmers, as well as a special compact autonomous mini-submarine ( Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) ).

Changes to the design of the boat cost US taxpayers $ 1.4 billion.

In 2005, the USS Jimmy Carter submarine was incorporated into the US Navy submarine fleet, where it continues to serve until today.

Fig.3. USS Jimmy Carter is ready to be launched. Groton Shipyard.

Submarine cables

Modern underwater transoceanic cable is a complex structure, designed for long-term operation at depths of up to 6000 m, with non-retransmitted sites from 400 to 2000 km. One of the variants of this construction is shown in Fig.4

The strength of the cable itself is provided by the supporting structure in the form of galvanized steel twisted wires (3), which can go in several layers, with intermediate insulation. Outside, the armored frame is protected from corrosion by seawater by means of a plastic coating (1) and an insulating mylar tape (2), which reduces friction between the outer shell and the inner layers when the cable is bent by sea currents or tensile forces occur during underwater earthquakes. Such measures reduce the likelihood of damage to the outer shell.

Waterproofing is provided by a special aluminum pipe (4). With the possible appearance of microcracks, they are tightened with oxides, which reliably block the inner layers from moisture ingress. In other types of cables, special dry waterproofing is sometimes used, which works in the same way - when water gets in, the material expands and the leak becomes blocked.

The next level of protection is a layer of polycarbonate (5) - a hard and durable plastic that resists bending well and provides additional electrical insulation. A distinctive feature of submarine cables is the presence of a solid copper or aluminum pipe (6), which contains optical fiber (8) placed in a water-repellent gel (7). A solid metal pipe can be used as a control conductor, indicating cable breakage, as well as a power line for intermediate optical amplifiers. To do this, the cable must be energized, which, given the lengths of the cable sections and the electrical losses, can be very high - up to 10,000 volts [2].



1) Polyethylene outer sheath
2) Mylar tape
3) Twisted steel wire (reinforcing supporting frame)
4) Aluminum waterproofing
5) Polycarbonate insulation
6) Copper or aluminum pipe
7) Hydrophobic isolating gel
8) Optical fibers

Fig.4. The device of the underwater transoceanic cable

In order to avoid cable damage by anchors or ship trawls, for protection against currents, cables in coastal areas are placed in special trenches with mandatory protection from above, but at depths above 300 meters there is usually no protection anymore, and cables are laid directly on the ocean floor.

USS Jimmy Carter special tasks and how the boat is connected to submarine cables

One of the experts in maritime affairs and intelligence, Norman Polmar, who worked as a consultant to the US Congress and who was involved in the MMP project, argues that the connection to the submarine cables can be done using a specially designed camera, which is being launched from a submarine. Why the underwater camera? Polmar said: “Due to the presence of high voltage on the cable, the Navy was not thrilled by the need to tighten the cable directly to the submarine. In addition, retaining the cable for a submarine for a long time can lead to its entanglement, and this is dangerous for the life of the entire crew. ”

He also said that there must be a lockable dock for USS Jimmy Carter to enter and exit swimmers; special engines that allow the boat to hang directly above the ocean floor for a long time, as well as oxygen supply systems for specialists and power supply to the underwater camera for equipment operation.

USS Jimmy Carter replaced the USS Parche, which was used in the US Navy during the Cold War. According to some information, Parche managed to connect in 1979 to the Soviet military copper cables running along the bottom of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. The US National Security Agency does not comment on this story.

“It can't be a regular submarine,” says Mark Dodeman, an engineer with Margus Co., Edison, New Jersey. “It should somehow be able to connect to the cable, being directly on the ocean floor, and not allowing water to leak. This requires a serious engineering solution. ”

Technical specialists of the companies engaged in the repair of marine cables, usually perform such work on water in special, clean conditions on the ship. Dirt or seawater when operating in a submerged chamber can ruin an unprotected optical fiber. In addition, the installation of an inconspicuous listening device requires safe isolation from the electricity used to power the optical signal amplification systems, and, as we said earlier, it can reach very high values.

“Getting electricity into the water or just breaking the circuit will cause the entire communication system to stop,” said Peter Runge, head of research and development at TyComm Ltd, Morristown, New Jersey, one of the largest companies that conduct submarine cables. Loss of connection unmasks the connection and triggers an alarm to the operator, notifying that something is wrong on the cable. This all makes the chances of success very small. And the company TyComm and its competitors claim that any breakages that occurred in their practice were caused by fishing nets, anchors, and at the very beginning even shark bites, but they were not supposed to be a third-party connection.

There are two main ways to extract the light needed to get the data: bending the fiber, so that part of the light begins to go out through a thin polymer shell, and by attaching another fiber. Fiber flexion is inaccurate science. It is possible that in order to receive data, the NSA will need to connect a second fiber, which makes it possible to split the light flux into two identical ones.

This raises another problem. “Split the line and you will cut off the light, at least for a moment,” says Wayne Siddal, an optics engineer at Corning Fiber in Corning, Iyu-York. Even a second interruption will be noticeable by the operator. And besides, cable companies usually build systems with backup lines, which are switched to in case of damage or breaks.

One of the retired NSA employees related to the profile of their work with optical communications insisted that the NSA had developed a way to connect to optical fiber without further detection. “Cable intrusion is a delicate job, but nothing is impossible.” He and his former employer, the NSA, refused any further talk on this topic.

After the connection is implemented, the difficult work of interpreting the data begins, and it seems that at that time the NSA had difficulties with this - say those who were familiar with the project. “Imagine that a fire hydrant is being sent to your face — that’s about the flow of data you’ve received,” said one of the former NSA technical specialists. The NSA’s computers at that time were not designed to process such a fast data stream ( article 2001 - Pr.perev ). “This is a classic task of finding a needle in a haystack,” the expert continues. “The only problem is that searches begin with a huge stack that continues to grow every second.”

This cannot change quickly. The NSA has long bragged about having the most powerful computers on the planet, but as budgets became more modest and the equipment became outdated, the agency’s technological capabilities did not look so attractive. The NSA's budget is classified, but people who are related to these issues say that it is about 2/3 of what it was ten years ago, even if you do not consider inflation.

At the same time, new submarine cables carry more and more information. A TyCom cable running across the Pacific has the ability to transfer 100 million calls at the same time. In the summer of 2001, Flag Telecom experts installed a switchboard on their new transatlantic cable, whose eight fibers have a capacity greater than all existing transatlantic cables. Some computer experts say that this will require the NSA to double its computational power and huge costs. It is said that the project of wiretaps on optical cables has already cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

NSA Lieutenant-General Hayden said that such a prospect did not frighten him. At a certain point, technology is not a friend of the NSA. But computational power allows processing all large data arrays, and as a result “one analyst will be able to extract the necessary information from gigantic raw data arrays”.

PS Everything is changing. Currently, the NSA is building the largest data center in Utah , which will be launched in September 2013. Its power consumption is about 65 megawatts, and the storage in the future will accumulate one-byte information.

PPS Possible places where you can find the Jimmy Carter submarine


Used materials articles:
1. RADM John P Davis “USS Jimmy Carter. Expanding Future SSN Missions ” , Undersea Warfare Fall 1999 Vol. 2, No. one
2. Neil Jr. ZD Net. “ Spy agency taps into undersea cable ”, May 23, 2001