by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
A little bit of Jacksonville will soon be transported deep under the surface of the ocean.
Exactly how deep is officially classified information, as are most facts about U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarines.
Tuesday at City Hall, the Jacksonville Council of the Navy League showed off a set of doors that will soon be reinstalled in the USS Jacksonville.
They’re decorated with scenes and symbols of the submarine’s namesake city and will be seen every day by officers and crew in the dining area.
The Navy League of the United States is a national organization of civilian volunteers dedicated to education about America’s maritime interests and support of the men and women who serve aboard military and merchant marine vessels and their families.
The submarine has been in service for 30 years and is the only vessel named for the city. When it was commissioned the local Navy League “adopted” the submarine and its crew.
Originally stationed in Norfolk, Va., the sub often visited Mayport, but has since been relocated to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The distance made it difficult to maintain a connection with the vessel and its crew, said Bob Kidd, past president of the Jacksonville council.
That changed three months ago when the group decided it was time to re-establish contact with the Jacksonville.
A letter was drafted and mailed to the Jacksonville’s commanding officer explaining that “you’re an adopted ship, but you don’t know it,” said Kidd.
About two weeks later, Kidd and his colleagues received a communication from a member of the submarine’s crew expressing his desire to have something aboard the vessel that would symbolize Jacksonville.
The submarine has always carried a Jacksonville image on its insignia, depicting the City seal and carrying the motto, “The Bold One,” after the city’s slogan at the time of the sub’s commissioning, “The Bold New City of the South.”
There’s also a longstanding tradition to have artifacts from the city a ship is named after displayed on the vessel.
It turned out the communication from Pearl Harbor and the letter from Jacksonville had no connection. The letter to the sub’s CO was returned because it had been mailed to an old Fleet Post Office address that was no longer valid.
“It was kind of like ‘The Twilight Zone,’” said Kidd.
It was decided by the Navy that since the submarine was about to be taken out of service temporarily for a scheduled overhaul, it would be a good time to design and install an exhibit about Jacksonville.
The crewman who contacted the local Navy League supervises the vessel’s galley and suggested the area where the officers and crew take their meals would be the best place for the display.
Doors that cover supply cabinets and equipment spaces were removed and sent to Jacksonville. A local sign company designed and fabricated vinyl components with images of the local landscape and icons, including local sports teams, and photographs of the city’s signature landscapes from Downtown to the Beaches.
The vinyl sheets were mounted between panes of Plexiglas and then sealed inside the doors’ stainless steel frames.
The decorated doors were shipped Tuesday afternoon to the submarine at Pearl Harbor.
In addition to the photographs of the city’s skyline, sunrise at the beach, the seaman statue on the Southbank and plenty of sports images, one of the doors has a map of Florida.
“We thought since so many of the crew have probably never been to Jacksonville, it would be a good idea to show them where it is,” said Kidd.
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