Parts of retired USS Jacksonville arrive in the city it was named for

A nuclear-powered attack submarine arrived in downtown Jacksonville this week. Well, part of a nuclear submarine, anyway. The sail structure and rudder from the USS Jacksonville, which served in the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet from 1981 to 2021, arrived by truck Wednesday morning following a cross-c

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A nuclear-powered attack submarine arrived in downtown Jacksonville this week. Well, part of a nuclear submarine, anyway.

The sail structure and rudder from the USS Jacksonville, which served in the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet from 1981 to 2021, arrived by truck Wednesday morning following a cross-country trip from Bremerton, Wash.

Plans call for the pieces to be refurbished, then put on display near the USS Orleck, a retired warship docked on the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville.

Stephen Jorgensen, who served aboard the Jacksonville, spearheaded the effort to bring pieces of the submarine to the city for which it was named. The sail structure and the upper rudder are among the highest points on a submarine and the first to appear when

it surfaces.

The USS Jacksonville was nicknamed "The Bold One" during its service as a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine. It was officially designated as SSN699. The keel was laid in Connecticut in 1976, and the Jacksonville was commissioned on May 16, 1981, and decommissioned on Nov. 16, 2021. It measured 360 feet in length with a 33-foot beam and a 32-foot draft and was powered by a nuclear reactor. It carried a crew of 12 officers and about 100 enlisted personnel and had an operating depth of 800 feet.

The submarine was broken up after being decommissioned. The hull sits in a Washington shipyard, awaiting recycling.

No timeline was released for placing the sail and rudder. Organizers are raising money for the effort through a website, bringthesail2jax.org.

Fincantieri Marine Repair Darryl Moore, crane rigging supervisor, left and Ryan Schmitz, crane rigging manager, right, try to determine the lift points of the upper sail structure, a piece of the USS Jacksonville (SSN 699), a nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine, Wednesday September 16, 2026 in downtown Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union]