U.S. Naval Academy renames building in honor of Jimmy Carter

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A building at the U.S. Naval Academy has been renamed in honor of former President Jimmy Carter, who graduated from the academy in 1946.

It happened a day before news broke that Carter, 98, had started receiving hospice care instead of medical treatment. He’s spending his final days at home with his family.

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The building had been named for a leader in the Confederate Navy. The decision to rename it was made after a commission mandated by Congress determined several military assets had to be renamed because of Confederate ties.

It’s the same commission that decided Fort Gordon in Georgia should be renamed Fort Eisenhower.

The building that had been called Maury Hall was built and named in the early 1900s after Matthew Fontaine Maury, a naval officer and scientist who joined the Confederates.

Carter is the only living former president to have a nuclear submarine christened in his honor.

The USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23), according to USCarriers.net, is the third and last Seawolf-class submarine. The boat was named in honor of Carter, the nation’s 39th president and, thus far, the only submarine-qualified man who went on to become the nation’s chief executive.

The contract to build SSN 23 was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp. in Groton, Conn., on June 29, 1996.

Carter himself was the nuclear engineer officer on the USS Seawolf (SSN 575) during his naval career.

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