In its 34 years of service, the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Albuquerque never visited its namesake city. Albuquerque, New Mexico sits in the high desert almost one thousand miles from the nearest ocean. Now, however, as the 362-foot-long submarine is being dismantled at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington state, the U.S. Navy is making the sail from the submarine available to Albuquerque, said Thomas Tozier, the city’s liaison for military and veterans affairs. The sail, referred to as a fin by the British, is the towerlike structure rising from the topside of a submarine.

Tozier said that three flatbed trucks would be needed to carry the pieces of the sail into the city. The sail is 19-foot-tall (5.7 meters), and weighs 52 tons, while the horizontal “wings” called fairwater planes span over 33 feet (10 meters). The city has allocated an initial $800,000 in its fiscal year 2023 budget for the project.

The City of Albuquerque is soliciting ideas from the public for the site of the permanent home of the sail of the USS Albuquerque.  The public input period will be open until September 16th. To learn more go to the USS Albuquerque Monument website.