Part of the USS Jacksonville submarine could wind up in Downtown Jacksonville

A huge piece of the decommissioned USS Jacksonville could be headed Downtown for display next to the USS Orleck and the Jacksonville Naval Museum.

The nonprofit Bring The Sail 2 Jax is trying to bring the sail of the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine to the Shipyards West museum site on East Bay Street. It would be the first time a military vessel named after the city is displayed here. 

The nonprofit is led by Stephen Jorgensen, whose Navy service included time on board the USS Jacksonville. Since the submarine was decommissioned in 2021, he has been trying to get the sail, which has been cut in half, to its namesake city.

Plans to bring the USS Saratoga to Jacksonville as a museum ship failed in 1995, and the Navy decided not to donate the USS Charles Adams to the Florida Historic Naval Ship Association in 2018. But Jorgensen said he feels good about his nonprofit’s chances this time.

“One hundred percent — that is the way I am approaching it,” he said. “Right now there’s nothing significant that is stopping that. I am going to get the materials here, and I know I can raise the monies to put it back together. We have local expertise that can weld that specialty steel and put it back together to make it look like she just came out of the shipyard, and we have the resources to move it.”

Dan Beam, president of the Florida Historic Naval Ship Museum, said the group is working with Bring The Sail 2 Jacksonville to bring the submarine parts here. He called the plan “tremendous.”

The goal is to display the sail on the pier where the USS Orleck is docked. The rudder and dive planes would be set up around the sail as they were on the USS Jacksonville. The pier would be repainted Cobalt Blue “to look like the submarine is underway,” Bean said.

“We think it will be a great addition to the attraction and very helpful to draw folks Downtown, which is the whole purpose of bringing a warship here,” Bean said. “I am very confident we are going to raise the money without any city assistance. This is just too great an opportunity to pass on to have the namesake of the city in the city, and a different attraction than a warship.”

The USS Jacksonville was nicknamed “The Bold One,” a take on the city’s slogan, “The Bold New City of the South.” The submarine’s crest featured Andrew Jackson on horseback on a modified version of Jacksonville’s city seal.

Commissioned on May 16, 1981, the submarine measured 360 feet in length and could take its crew of 12 officers and 100 enlisted personnel at speeds of over 36 mph submerged.

The submarine served for 40 years until its decommissioning Nov. 16, 2021. The Navy confirmed that its sail structure with dive planes and its rudder were gifted to Bring The Sail 2 Jax Inc.

Jorgensen has a unique perspective on this submarine as part of its commissioning crew from 1978 to 1982 before he moved on to other jobs.

“I had just moved here in 2012, and I was thinking, why are we not talking about what it means to the community and what the submarine services is? It’s kind of a cool honor to have a ship named after a city,” Jorgensen said. “Fast forward to 2014, and we had a reunion of some USS Jacksonville sailors Downtown, and talk of bringing it here started to kick off.”

Jorgensen volunteered to lead the effort and set up the nonprofit Bring The Sail 2 Jax group. When the submarine was decommissioned, he worked with Navy Heritage Command to get some Jacksonville-related mementos off it for safekeeping. Last year, he wrote to the Navy requesting donation of the sail, rudder and dive planes.

Those parts need to be picked up within two months from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Their cross-country move should take about a week, with help from local transportation logistics company Landstar. Fincantieri Marine Repair near the Hart Bridge will house the pieces until restoration work is completed, Jorgensen said.

The cost for the cross-country move is estimated at $66,000. It would require four trucks, including two to move split pieces of the huge 55-ton sail.

Reassembling and restoring the sail, then putting it at the USS Orleck will take about six months and another $2 million, Jorgensen estimates.

“It’s basically a static display. It just requires some maintenance, paint and thinks like that,” Jorgensen said.

A fundraiser has been set up at the Bring The Sail 2 Jax website.

There is another Navy submarine memorial in the region — the USS Bancroft Memorial next to the Franklin Gate at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. The Franklin-class submarine was decommissioned in 1993.

Jorgensen said that the USS Jacksonville’s sail display will not include a replica hull like the USS Bancroft. Instead, the restored sail, also known as a conning tower, will be put on a concrete base, with all hatches sealed with no internal access.

“l decided I wanted to do this because I care about the Navy. I care about the military, and I think it is important to show what people did to serve this country,” he said.

The USS Orleck museum is slated for a $1.5 million allocation from the proposed Fiscal 2026-27 city budget, but the money would not be used for any USS Jacksonville work, city spokesperson Phil Perry said.

The city funding wouldaddress the museum’s revenue shortfalls because of construction at the planned Shipyards West Park next door, Perry said.