USS Jacksonville (SSN-699)

USS "Jacksonville" (SSN-699), a "Los Angeles"-class submarine, is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Jacksonville, Florida. The ship is nicknamed "The Bold One". The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 24 January 1972 and her keel was laid down on 21 February 1976. She was launched on 18 November 1978 using the pontoon system designed for the launching of the Ohio Class Trident Submarines. The Jacksonville was sponsored by Mrs. Charles E. Bennett, and commissioned on 16 May 1981, with Captain Robert B. Wilkinson in command.

"Jacksonville"’s operations have included a variety of fleet exercises and deployments including two around-the-world cruises in 1982 and 1985, deployments to the western Atlantic Ocean in 1983, 1986, 1993 and 1994, and deployments to the Mediterranean Sea in 1987 and 1993. In 1988, Jacksonville participated in a shock trials test program for Los Angeles class submarines, which was followed by a three-year major modernization overhaul in Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

"Jacksonville" was involved in a collision with a Saudi container ship near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in May 1996.

On 20 December 2004 a small fire broke out aboard "Jacksonville" while it was undergoing a refueling overhaul at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The fire was immediately extinguished and the reactor was never in danger, though a shipyard firefighter and a sailor were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

References

This article includes information collected from the
Naval Vessel Register as well as various press releases and news stories.
* [http://www.sublant.navy.mil/factsheets/jacksonville.pdf Sublant Fact sheet on the U.S.S. Jacksonville.]