A Salute to All Cold-War Warriors
- Saving the USS Phoenix (SSN-702) -

USS Phoenix (SSN-702)

Like all submarines, the Phoenix was called a "boat" even though she was much larger than a World War II destroyer.

Built at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, the boat was launched on Dec. 8, 1979 and commissioned on Dec. 19, 1981.

After a proud service life, the USS Phoenix was decommissioned on July 29, 1998 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on July 29, 1998. The then ex-Phoenix entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and is scheduled to begin disassembly in 2013.

Class and type:

Los Angeles class submarine

Displacement:

5,777 tons empty; 6,148 tons full

Length:

361 feet, 11 inches

Beam:

32 feet, 10 inches

Draft:

31 feet, 10 inches

Propulsion:

S6G pressurized water nuclear reactor

Complement:

12 officers, 98 men

Armament:

This project is so important to us that we have appointed one of our most experienced members to head it up.

Stan Reinhold

is the man to contact if you can help us.

Click here to e-mail Stan

Perch Base, United States Submarine Veterans, Inc., has constructed an exact 1/15 scale model, mounted on a float, of the USS Phoenix (SSN-702), a Los Angeles-class submarine, and the third United States Navy ship to be named "Phoenix" after our city.

Click this sentence to see how the float was made.

The Base uses this float to champion the cause of the the Save-our-Sail campaign to honor submariners and all veterans of the long Cold War. This effort is to bring the actual sail and planes along with the rudder from the decommissioned submarine, USS Phoenix (SSN-702) to her namesake city.

These will be placed in an already designated area of downtown Phoenix's Steele Indian School Park as a lasting monument. This monument would be a first for the city of Phoenix. Almost 20 of the original 62 city-named submarines have been decommissioned and no other city has its namesake nuclear submarine “live again” as a memorial to all who served.

The images on this page show the actual dimensions of the boat's components that will be saved along with artist drawings of what the completed monument will look like.

If you would like to help us in this worthwhile project by making a tax deductable donation to this memorial? Please send your contribution to:

Save Our Sail (SOS) Foundation
P. O. Box 411
Tolleson,  AZ 85353-9998

save-our-sail@perch-base.org

This drawing shows the dimensions and weights of the actual sail components. This is not small. The distance from sail tip to sail tip is greater than the wingspan of a Cessna 172 light aircraft.

This aerial view shows where the USS Phoenix will be located. The area indicated is Steele-Indian School Park. It is defined by Central Avenue (left) Indian School Road (bottom) and 7th Street (right.) North is up on the photograph.

 This is a close-up of the photo on the left showing placement of the sail and rudder. The rudder will be placed a full-size distance from the sail as indicated.

This is an artist conception of the sail as seen from the "bow area." Details shown in the drawing have yet to be determined.

Another view, this from the starboard side, aft. All of the landscaping and other features are still preliminary.

Seen in this additional artist conception, the view is from the forward port side. Look closely (and more pronounced in the full size view) and you can see that the artist was not a submarine sailor. Metal seams are not riveted anywhere on modern submarines. The joints are welded and smooth.

This actual photograph is of a Los Angeles class submarine (that's the Phoenix's type) is of the boat surfaced under the polar ice. The photograph gives a good perspective of the length of these boats especially when you realize that those small dots just off the port bow are people!

Perch Base USSVI has established a tax exempt foundation for contributions to our efforts in Saving-our-Sail. Any contributions are a tax deduction for the giver.

Is this any way to treat a lady? This is the USS Phoenix today. Her reactor compartment has been sealed and removed and she lies tied to other ships at the the Ship/Submarine Recycling Program (SRP) process at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton, Washington,

This (unfortunately) faint architect drawing is a view of preliminary layout of the USS Phoenix monument. The sail is the large dark area near the drawing center and the rudder is in the lower right corner of the drawing.