Ordered on April Fool’s Day 1939 from Norfolk Navy Yard, at a time when Czeechlovakia had ceased to exist and Poland was looking to their borders, Battleship No. 60 would be the final super-dreadnought of the South Dakota class before the Navy would move on to the penultimate Iowa-class battlewagons. Some 1,233 days later, with the entire globe at war and the U.S. Navy with most of its capital ships either at the bottom of the Pacific or undergoing reconstruction at West Coast yards, the sixth USS Alabama (and second battleship with the name) was commissioned at Norfolk, 80 years ago today: 16 August 1942.
“Battle Wagon” – an etching of USS Alabama fitting out at the Norfolk navy yard in 1942. The crane ship USS Kearsarge (AB-1) is alongside. Etching by John Taylor Arms. NH 57758
USS Alabama (BB-60) Commissioning ceremonies Norfolk navy yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 16 August 1942. She is berthed at the uncompleted Pier 6, on 16 August 1942. In the foreground, note the open top of turret# 3 on Alabama. In the distance on the left, note the center swing span on Beltline Railroad Bridge, in the extreme distance, you can see the uprights of the now-gone Jordan Bridge. Note the small rail crane to the right of the bow, as dredging of the turning basin and construction of Dock# 8 & Berth 42/43 continued. NH 57760
USS Alabama (BB-60) Commissioning ceremonies Norfolk navy yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 16 August 1942. Piping the first watch on deck. NH 57762
However, Alabama would not immediately head to the Pacific where Nimitz was at the time sorely in need of ships– a decision had been made to keep the battleships out of the contest for Guadalcanal due to the immense quantity of fuel they needed and the shortage of oilers. Therefore, she would shakedown slowly on the East Coast and, when she finally got operational eight months later, it would be on loan to the British Home Fleet to help cover North Atlantic convoys in case Tirpitz or other German surface raiders broke out from Norway.
Finally, released by the British, Alabama departed Norfolk on 20 August 1943– a year and a week after she was commissioned– for the Pacific where she would spend the next two years earning nine battle stars for her World War II service.
USS Alabama (BB-60), August 9, 1943. An aerial port side view was taken at an altitude of 200’. From by a Naval Air Station, Weeksville, North Carolina aircraft. 80-G-80012
A lucky ship, Alabama suffered no casualties during the war and decommissioned on 9 January 1947.
After spending 15 years assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet, stationed in Bremerton, she was saved from the scrappers by a public drive from her “home” state and towed to Mobile, where she opened in 1965 as the centerpiece of the Battleship Memorial Parkthat is still going very strong today.
At this point, she has spent 14 years as a museum ship for every year she spent on active service!
Via All Hands, August 1964
I’ve toured Alabama dozens of times over the years, and she has always been beautiful, even at age 80.
(Photo: Chris Eger)
Importantly, the Park is amid a five-phase $8.5 million Teak Deck Replacement Project that is slated to be completed in 2024, and she has never looked better.
The third USS Alabama (Battleship No. 60)was laid down at the Norfolk Navy Yard where she was christened and launched on 16 February 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Lister Hill, wife of the senior Senator from Alabama at the time.
The lucky battleship, which suffered no combat losses in her busy, commissioned just six months later and earned nine battle stars for her World War II service.
Decommissioned on 9 January 1947 after serving less than five years with the fleet, the still-young battlewagon was laid up at Bremerton until she was formally turned over on 7 July 1964 in a ceremony to officials from her namesake state for use as a museum in Mobile, where she has been on permanent berth since 14 September 1964.
And she is still beautiful.
Note her distinctive large SK3 radar antenna array near the top of her mast. Photo by Eger
“Big Grey Al” has been a regular feature in Mobile Bay for over 50 years, guarding the entry to Mobile along the Moon Pie City’s Western Shore.
Note her distinctive large SK3 radar antenna array near the top of her mast. Photo by me on Leap Day 2020
The thing is, the lucky SoDak-class fast battleship spent her brief but very active WWII career typically dressed in camo of various schemes, starting off with Measure 12 for her Atlantic tour then haze grey augmented by Measure 22 for her Pacific career.
Original color photo of USS Alabama (BB-60) In Casco Bay, Maine, during her shakedown period, circa December 1942. Note her Measure 12 (modified) Atlantic camouflage scheme. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-K-445
Alabama (BB-60) anchored at Lynnhaven in Hampton Roads, on 1 December 1942. Via Navsource
While the traditional naval practice of separate wardrooms/messing for enlisted, chiefs, and officers is standard knowledge, something I did not know about until this week was the practice of “Admiral’s China,” especially reserved for visits to capital ships by flag officers.
The Officers dined on the Officers china, printed with the iconic anchor on it. Their meal was served in the Wardroom, the Officers’ dining room. When the Captain was dining, the Captain’s china was used, the flying pennant with navy blue band and the meal served in the Captian’s dining room. Each ship carried a set of china used when an Admiral was aboard the ship. The Admiral’s china features a gold band and insignia.
Over the weekend I got a chance to stop off at one of my favorite places, the Battleship Alabama Park at the top of Mobile Bay.
Doesn’t the old girl look great?
This brings me to a semi-related video that I recently caught.
I remember first touring Big Al when I was in elementary school in the early 1980s– at a time when Ingalls in my hometown of Pascagoula was busily reactivating mothballed Iowa-class battlewagons to be ready to take on the Soviet Red Banner Fleet as part of the Lehman 600-ship Navy of the Cold War.
One of the questions asked by a young me while touring Alabama at the time was “do the guns still work?” followed up by “could the ship be put back into service like the Iowas are?”
The tour guide at the time shook it off, saying the guns were permanently deactivated, breeches removed, welded shut in the elevated position, and filled with cement, which I accepted as I was a kid, and what adults said was the end of the story.
In later years, I found this is not entirely true, but the likelihood of the SoDaks like Alabama and the even earlier North Carolina-class fast battleships ever being reactivated after the late 1950s was slim to none– hence their disposal by the Navy.
But when mothballed they were sent to red lead row with reactivation manuals and work packages in place.
Battleship North Carolina’s reactivation manual…
…from when she was mothballed in 1947
Mothball preservation lockout tag with follow up “to put back in commission” tag, Battleship Massachusetts. The ship is filled with equipment that was sidelined when it was laid up.
When the Iowas were called back from mothballs in the early 1980s, even though three of the four had been in storage since Korea (and New Jersey since Vietnam), it was found their guns had weathered the floating reserve status very well and were restored to service with only minor hiccups.
From a 1987 report:
With that being said, check this recent video out from the USS New Jersey, which was decommissioned for the fourth time in 1991, stricken in 1999, and opened as a museum in 2001.
While not quite a descent into the Dark Ages just yet, that is still a big blow if you think about it. For instance, the Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA) counts nearly 200 vessels in their “fleet,” which simple math would lead you to deduce that at least 16 will no longer be viable at the end of this crisis, a figure that in reality could be much higher as some museums have numerous ships.
For sure, with everyone sheltering in place, there are no visitors, the key to any museum’s survival. Ships located in states/countries with very strict lockdown seemingly extended forever are surely under the gun.
Last month the Mystic Seaport Museum closed and laid off 199 employees, with no date on the horizon to reopen. At the USS New Jersey (BB62) Museum, with the termination of visitors, and withheld funds from the State of New Jersey, ship managers are almost out of money to maintain the historic Iowa-class battlewagon, the only one that fought in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Cold War.
Everett, Washington’s Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, originally established by Paul Allen, announced, “The current global situation is making it difficult for us to serve our mission and we will spend the months ahead reassessing if, how, and when to reopen.”
How long can large, aging ships located in areas like New York City (USS Intrepid) and San Diego (USS Midway) survive if everything stays shut down in those areas with no expected relaxation of the lockdown rules in the near future?
With all that being said, many vessels have taken advantage of the past couple of months to restore compartments and areas that have long been neglected due to offering 364 days of yearly access to the public.
For instance, check out the USS Alabama/USS Drum‘s social media pages which have detailed an extensive before-and-after restoration of several areas of both the battleship and submarine. They even removed the 30+ planes from the Aircraft Pavilion for deep scrubbing.
USS Alabama’s recently restored sickbay
The Alabama Battleship Memorial Park will open to the public on Saturday morning, May 23, at 8:00 a.m., with new social distancing and hygiene standards in place. The Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, home of the USS Razorback (SS-394), opened on May 22.
Warship Wednesday, Feb.8, 2018: Roll Tide, Vol. 4ish
Colourised photo by Atsushi Yamashita/Monochrome Specter http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/ Note the distinctive twin side-by-side funnel arrangement
Here we see the Illinois-class pre-dreadnought type battleship USS Alabama (Battleship No. 8) as she appeared at around 1904, just before her inclusion in the Great White Fleet. Sadly, she would never be this beautiful again.
The Illinois-class battlewagons were under construction during but were not able to fully take advantage of, lessons learned by the U.S. in the Spanish-American War. At 12,250-tons, these ships were very hefty due to the fact they packed a quartet of 13″/35 main guns in twin turrets and 14 smaller 6″/40s in casemates into a hull that was slathered in as much as 16.5-inches of steel armor.
Inboard profile of an ILLINOIS class battleship. Drawn by R. G. Serest, 1898. From the Serest Collection, Bethlehem Steel Corp. Archives.
In the end, they weighed three times as much as a frigate of today, though they were arguably shorter in length at just 375-feet. Still, they were capital ships of their time.
Laid down within six weeks of each other (we have a modern Navy to build here, folks!) from three different yards, Illinois (BB-7) was built at Newport News while Alabama was made by the good folks at William Cramp in Philly and the final installment, Wisconsin (BB-9), was built by Union in San Francisco. Though sandwiched in the middle of the three, Alabama was completed first, entering the fleet in October 1900, months (almost a year compared to Illinois) before her two sisters. She was officially the 4th U.S. Navy ship to bear the name.
Alabama proved a popular ship, extensively photographed in her day, and many images of her crew exist today.
USS Alabama (Battleship # 8) Ship’s Gunner and Gunner’s Mates, summer 1903. Note the kitten and parrot mascots, the Chief’s pipe and the comment written on the First Class Gunner’s Mate at right (accidental discharge?)
Forward turret crew Gunner’s Mates pose by the breech of one of the ship’s 13″/35 guns, 1903. Note the ex-Apprentice marks (figure “8” knot badges) worn by two of these men as well as the flat caps. Photo # NH 57494, from the collections of the United States Naval Historical Center.
Champion guns crew with Lieutenant Lewis J. Clark, 1903. They are posed with an 1100-pound, 13-inch shell, on the foredeck in front of the ship’s forward 13″/35 gun turret. Photo # NH 57495.
Crew members F. Petry (left) and W.M. Langridge (in the gun) pose at the breach of one of the ship’s 13″/35 guns, 1903. Note the “A” with figure “8” knot on Petry’s shirt. Langridge also appears prominently in another image above, his pomade being very distinctive. Photo # NH 57496
These same 13″ guns were used in the Navy’s first nine battlewagons from USS Indiana (BB-1) through USS Wisconsin (BB-9) and were pretty effective, with Navweaps noting “During the Battle of Santiago on 3 July 1898, the battleship Oregon (B-3) engaged in a running shoot with the Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon. Oregon‘s last shots traveled 9,500 yards (8,700 m) and landed just ahead of the Spanish ship, convincing her to surrender.”
Illinois and Alabama, based on the East Coast, were like peas and carrots. They toured Europe and for 15 months steamed around the world with Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet– joined by Wisconsin halfway through.
Collection Photo #UA 570.11.01 Postcard image of USS Alabama (BB-8) as part of Great White Fleet
However, even before they left on the circumnavigation the entire class was obsolete with the advent of large, fast, all-big-gun battleships such as HMS Dreadnought (21,000-tons, 21-knots. 10×12″ Mk VIII’s).
This led to a three-year modernization, picking up lattice masts and removing such beautiful ornamentation as the bow scrolls and hardwood furnishings. She also ditched the gleaming white and buff scheme for a more utilitarian haze gray.
A greatly modified USS Alabama (Battleship # 8) Off New York City, during the October 1912 Naval Review. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 57753.
Returning to the fleet in 1912, Alabama was made part of the doldrums that was the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, where, much like the 1990s-era NRF ships, she was manned by a skeleton crew of primarily NCOs and officers and used to train Naval Militia (the precursor to the Navy Reserve) and midshipmen.
She continued this mission during World War I, transitioning to basic recruit, gunnery and machinist training on the East Coast. She was laid up in November 1919, having served less than two decades in the fleet, with arguably most of that in reserve.
To both shed tonnage to be used to keep modern new dreadnoughts because of limitations in the Washington Naval Treaty and give Army Air Force wonk Brig. Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell, a chance to prove himself, Alabama was decommissioned in May 1920 and subsequently transferred to the War Department’s custody.
There, she joined the old battleship Iowa (BB-4), the slightly more modern but similarly disposed of battleships New Jersey and Virginia, and several captured German ships to include the submarine U-117, destroyer G-102, light cruiser Frankfurt, and battleship Ostfriesland, all to be used by the lumbering Handley Page O/400 and Martin MB-2/NBS-1 bombers of Mitchell’s 1st Provisional Air Brigade operating out of Langley.
The Navy protested vigorously over the Army-organized test, arguing they were borderline rigged to show off a predetermined outcome. The German ships and Iowa went first in July off North Carolina, with Alabama, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia following in September in the Chesapeake.
Ex-USS Alabama (BB-8) Officers pose with gas masks, on the ship’s after deck in September 1921, immediately before the commencement of the bombing tests in which the former USS Alabama was the target. Those present include officers of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and a foreign navy (in a white uniform, second from left). Most of the gas masks are marked with a numeral 3 at the top, and one has a numeral 4 in that location. Photo from the 1909-1924 album of Vice Admiral Olaf M. Hustvedt, USN (Retired). Courtesy of Rick Hauck, 2006. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 104541
NH 104539
NH 57483 A white phosphorus bomb explodes on a mast top USS Alabama, while the ship in use as a target in the Chesapeake Bay, 23 September 1921. An Army Martin twin-engine bomber is flying overhead
Ex-USS Alabama (BB-8) takes a direct
Direct hit forward, Battleship Alabama, 1921
Alabama with ex-Texas (far left) and ex-Indiana (2nd from left)
Alabama took a significant punishment over a three-day period, then remained afloat for several days while she filled with seawater via her shattered hull, finally going to the bottom 27 September 1921. Her bones were sold for scrap in 1924.
View on board the ship’s sunken wreck, in Chesapeake Bay, after she had been used as a target for Army bombing tests in September 1921. This photograph looks forward from amidships, showing a boat crane, collapsed smokestacks and other wreckage. Donation of Lewis L. Smith, 1960. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.
Sister Illinois, disarmed in 1924 and converted to a barracks ship (Prairie State), was ultimately sold for scrap in 1956, while Wisconsin was unceremoniously broken up in 1922.
Of course, the Navy went on to commission other Alabamas including the very lucky South Dakota-class battleship (BB-60) which has been preserved in Mobile since 1964…
…and SSBN-731, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine commissioned in 1985 and currently in service.
180202-N-ND254-0451 BANGOR, Wash. (February 2, 2018) The Gold Crew of the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Alabama (SSBN 731) returns home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor following a routine strategic deterrent patrol. Alabama is one of eight ballistic missile submarines stationed at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, providing the most survivable leg of the strategic deterrence triad for the United States. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nancy DiBenedetto/Released)
However, the old battleship’s silver service lives on.
Presented by the state to the ship’s officers in 1900, it was retained by the Navy in storage until given to the follow-on SoDak class battlewagon in conjunction with a new platter and punchbowl crafted by the Watson Silver Co. in 1942. In 1967, the Navy returned the set to the state archives of Alabama and it has been on display aboard BB-62 since then, though part of the service has been presented to SSBN 731 and is now on permanent display in the boat’s wardroom.
Specs:
Displacement: Full load: 12,250 long tons (12,450 t)
Length: 375 ft 4 in (114.40 m)
Beam: 72 ft 3 in (22.02 m)
Draft: 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Installed power: 8 fire-tube boilers
Propulsion: 2 shaft triple expansion engines 10,000 ihp (7,500 kW)
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Crew: 536
Armament:
4 × 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns
14 × 6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber guns
16 × 6-pounder guns (57 mm (2.2 in))
6 × 1-pounder guns (37 mm (1.5 in))
4 × 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:
Belt: 4 to 16.5 in (100 to 420 mm)
Turrets: 14 in (360 mm)
Barbettes: 15 in (380 mm)
Casemates: 6 in (150 mm)
Conning tower: 10 in (250 mm)
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A few of the better ones that I have seen this week. My skyline was socked in by low altitude cloud cover and I got nothing 😦
161114-N-PJ969-038 CORONADO, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2016) The brightest moon in almost 69 years sets behind the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). The ship is moored and homeported in San Diego. It is undergoing a scheduled Planned Maintenance Availability. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Abe McNatt/Released)
A member of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing security forces stands on a flight line near a guard tower at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Nov. 14, 2016. Behind the Airman a rare Supermoon rises in the sky. The moon has not been closer to the Earth since Jan. 26, 1948. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tyler Woodward)
Super Moon setting near the USS ALABAMA (BB-60) Battleship Memorial Park, Mobile Bay by Tim Ard
SOGNEFJORDEN, Norway (Oct. 2, 2016) Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) ships ESPS Almirante Juan de Borbón (flagship), NRP Alvares Cabral, and FGS Ludwigshafen am Rhein sail through the Sognefjord in Norway.
NATO photo by Petty Officer Luis Sanchez Oller, ESP-N/Released
The Spanish Navy’s Almirante Juan de Borbón (F102) is the second ship of the new F-100 class of air defense frigates and is well-equipped with a SPY-1D phased array “mini-Aegis” radar suite, 48 VLS launch cells and a 5-inch gun in a compact 5,800-ton package (how come we couldn’t have ordered 48 of these for the LCS design!?).
The Portugese Navy’s 3,200-ton NRP Alvares Cabral (F331) is a Vasco da Gama-class fast frigate of the popular German MEKO 200 type and is more modestly equipped for ASW and ASuW action with a suite of guns, torpedoes and Harpoons.
As for the German Navy’s FGS Ludwigshafen am Rhein (F 264) she is a handy K130 Braunschweig-class ocean going corvette of some 1,800-tons. Armed with a 76mm gun and RBS-15 antiship missiles, she is a modern day fast attack craft and would surely prove her worth in combat among a craggy coastal littoral such as the Norwegian coast.
As noted by NATO: SNMG1 is one of four multinational, high readiness groups composed of vessels from various allied countries. These vessels are permanently available to NATO to perform different tasks ranging from participation in exercises to operational missions. These groups provide NATO with a continuous maritime capability and help to establish Alliance presence, demonstrate solidarity, conduct routine diplomatic visits and enhance interoperability among Allied naval forces. They also serve as a consistently ready maritime force of the NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).
Of course, it reminds me of this painting of a very different time, but the same coast.
“Task Force of Two Navies” Watercolor by Dwight Shepler, USNR, 1943, depicting U.S. and British warships in the Pentlant Firth during an operation toward the Norwegian coast, coincident with the Sicily invasion, July 1943. USS Alabama (BB 60) is in the lead, followed by HMS Illustrious and HMS King George V. Three British carrier-based fighters (two “Seafires” and a “Martlet”) are overhead.
“Sept. 13[1964] A RARE SIGHT—Aircraft carriers and battleships aren’t seen together at sea these days, primarily because all of America’s battlewagons are in mothballs. But two historic veterans of WW II, the carrier Lexington and the battleship Alabama got together in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. The Lexington, still in service, was en route to New Orleans for a visit; the Alabama was being towed to Mobile where it will be enshrined.”
Alabama (BB-60) had a short but safe career in the Navy. Commissioned 16 August 1942, she earned 9 Battle Stars for her work in the Pacific before entering red lead row on 9 January 1947 at the ripe old age of four. Stricken in 1962, she has been preserved since 1964 at the Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile Bay.
Lexington, (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16), is actually younger than Alabama, commissioned 17 February 1943. Recipient of the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 Battle Stars, she saw hard service in WWII and the Cold War (after a 8-year lay up) before becoming the Navy’s dedicated training carrier in 1969. Decommissioned/stricken on 8 November 1991, she has been preserved at the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Hence, the 1964 photo was a harbinger of things to come, as both endure as silent gray sentinels, the last of Halsey’s capital ships on the Gulf Coast.
The Mechanix of Auto, Aviation, Military...pert near anything I feel relates to mechanical things, places, events or whatever I happen to like. Even non-mechanical artsy-fartsy stuff.
![“Sept. 13[1964] A RARE SIGHT—Aircraft carriers and battleships aren’t seen together at sea these days, primarily because all of America’s battlewagons are in mothballs. But two historic veterans of WW II, the carrier Lexington and the battleship Alabama got together in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. The Lexington, still in service, was en route to New Orleans for a visit; the Alabama was being towed to Mobile where it will be enshrined.”](https://laststandonzombieisland.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/lexington-alabama-1964.jpg)
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