A planned educational display at Shipyards West park is intended partly to boost Downtown.
After years of planning, coordinating and cutting through red tape, an effort to create a tribute to the only U.S. Navy vessel to be named after the city of Jacksonville is moving toward fruition.
A nonprofit that has been working with the Navy, city officials and local business partners to bring the sail of the USS Jacksonville submarine to the city is preparing to take custody of it with plans to transport it here by late August or early September.
In addition to the sail, which is another term for a submarine’s conning tower, the nonprofit Bring the Sail 2 Jax has made arrangements to take possession of the USS Jacksonville's dive planes, which are wing-like control structures attached to the sail. The rudder from another submarine of the same class also will be transported to Jacksonville to become part of a memorial planned near the USS Orleck floating naval museum along the Downtown Northbank.
The USS Orleck on its way to Jacksonville.
Stephen Jorgensen, a Jacksonville resident who served aboard the USS Jacksonville, spearheads the relocation project through Bring the Sail 2 Jax.
Jorgensen said Aug. 17 that through partnerships with Landstar System Inc. and Fincantieri Marine Repair, the nonprofit has made arrangements for Landstar to pick up the 55-ton shipment at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, and transport it cross-country to Jacksonville.
The journey’s start
The USS Jacksonville was a Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine commissioned in 1981. The nuclear-powered boat was in the same class as the USS Dallas, which in the 1990 movie “The Hunt for Red October” was sent to locate and then assist a Russian sub whose officers wished to defect to the U.S.
The USS Jacksonville glides into Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, where it was decommissioned in 2021. Jacksonville resident Stephen Jorgensen, who served aboard the submarine, was present for the decommissioning and became inspired to bring a portion of the vessel to Jacksonville to display as an educational tribute.
The shipment will be in pieces to allow for transportation. Once here, Jorgensen said, the pieces will be stored at Fincantieri’s shipyard along the bank of the St. Johns River east of EverBank Stadium. There, local welders with the expertise to work with the submarine’s special alloy will put the pieces together.
Jorgensen, who spent part of his six years of Navy service as an electrician’s mate first class on the Jacksonville, said the roots of the project go back about four years.
“The Jacksonville was inactivated in 2017, and then in 2021 they actually decommissioned her,” he said. “My wife and I flew out to Bremerton, and I got together with the CO (commanding officer) and the XO (executive officer) and the COB (chief of boat) from the Jacksonville, the last crew members, and they were gracious enough to help me there at the actual decommissioning because it was in the shipyard.
“So I got some items off the ship, and we drove them back here to Jacksonville. And that kind of started the journey going forward.”
Supporters lend a hand
About a year ago, Jorgensen said, he approached the Navy about creating an educational memorial of the USS Jacksonville in its namesake city.
Jorgensen said that in navigating the Navy’s bureaucratic process, he received help from local supporters. Key among them was Jacksonville City Council member Will Lahnen, a former submarine officer who utilized his connections within the Navy and city government to help Bring the Sail 2 Jax receive permission for the relocation.
Lahnen said his former commanding officer and executive officer, who went on to serve as admirals, helped steer the project through the Navy. Lahnen also is connected to Landstar CEO Frank Lonegro, his former boss when Lahnen was a senior finance executive at CSX.
Others who assisted in the project include Daniel Bean and Jim Webb of the USS Orleck and Harrison Conyers, director of the city Military Affairs and Veterans Department.
Jorgensen said that with assistance from Lahnen and others,, “the next thing you know, I’m the proud papa of about 55 tons of steel.”
Lahnen, who comes from a military family, said he felt it was appropriate for the sail to be displayed in Jacksonville.
“Why it’s so important to Jacksonville is that even though we’re a huge Navy town, it’s the only warship ever named after Jacksonville and there is no future ship slated to be named the Jacksonville right now,” he said.
“So I think it’s a meaningful part of our history to have on display right there in a prominent place where a lot of people are going to see it and remind everyone that our hometown’s namesake played a key role, especially in the Cold War period.”
Shipyards West Park is along Bay Street on the Downtown Northbank. At the west edge of the park, the USS Orleck floating naval museum is docked.
Lahnen said no city funding is being used for the project. He said supporters have been in discussions with the Downtown Investment Authority and city parks officials to place the sail on display in Shipyards West Park, which is in development near the Orleck.
The sail is about 15 feet high and 8 feet long. The dive plans span about 26 feet from tip to tip.
The timeline
Jorgensen, who after serving in the Navy became a civilian engineer who helped design Seawolf-class subs, said he was making what he hoped were final arrangements with the Navy to take custody of the sail.
If all goes according to plan, he said, it would be reassembled and moved to Shipyards West in about a year.
Jorgensen said part of his goal with the project was to help revitalize Downtown by creating a new tourism attraction for Navy veterans, military enthusiasts and families interested in the history of Jacksonville and naval vessels.