[19] Carter graduated 60th out of 821 midshipmen in the class of 1947[20] with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as an ensign.[21]

Naval career
Carter with Rosalynn Smith and his mother at his graduation from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, June 5, 1946
From 1946 to 1953, the Carters lived in Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York and California, during his deployments in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.[22] In 1948, he began officer training for submarine duty and served aboard USS Pomfret.[23] He was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in 1949, and his service aboard Pomfret included a simulated war patrol to the western Pacific and Chinese coast from January to March of that year.[24] In 1951 he was assigned to the diesel/electric USS K-1 (SSK-1), qualified for command, and served in several positions, to include executive officer.[25]
In 1952, he began an association with the Navy's fledgling nuclear submarine program, led then by captain Hyman G. Rickover.[26] Rickover had high standards and demands for his men and machines, and Carter later said that, next to his parents, Rickover had the greatest influence on his life.