USS Alabama (BB-60): History, Patrols, Crews
Commissioning
The USS Alabama was the fourth and final member of the South Dakota-class of battleships. She was the sixth completed ship, but only the third commissioned, in U.S. Navy history.
The contract to build the Alabama was awarded to the Norfolk (Va.) Navy Yard on April 1, 1939. Her keel was laid down on Feb. 1, 1940; she was launched on Feb. 16, 1942. The Alabama was commissioned on Aug. 16, 1942, with Capt. George B. Wilson in command.
Underway
Having to undertake a shakedown cruise, crew training and outfitting, the Alabama would not leave American shores until the spring of 1943. In early April, she was ordered to the waters off the British Isles to support the British Home Fleet, which was depleted as a large portion of her ships were diverted to the Mediterranean to take part in the invasion of Sicily. She arrived at Scapa Flow on May 19 and joined Task Force 61.
In early June, the Alabama and USS South Dakota supported Home Fleet units reinforcing the island of Spitsbergen, which lay on the northern convoy route to the Soviet Union. The deployment would take her north of the Arctic Circle. In July, she would take part in Operation Governor, a feint towards southern Norway designed to draw German attention—and units—away from the upcoming invasion of Sicily. There were hopes the German pocket battleship Tirpitz, which had anchored in Norwegian waters, would sail out and force a confrontation with the Alabama and other allied ships, but the Germans declined to give battle.
On Aug. 1, 1943, the Alabama departed the British Home Fleet and headed west for Norfolk and a short stop for repairs. On Aug. 20, the battleship was at sea again, this time heading for the waters of the Pacific. She would arrive at Havannah Harbor in the New Hebrides on Sept. 14. In November, the Alabama joined a large number of American ships taking part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. On Nov. 20, the Alabama supported the assault on Tarawa, then backed the landings on Betio and Makin. On Dec. 8, the Alabama joined five other battleships in carrying out the first fire mission with 16-inch guns in the Pacific theater, pounding the Japanese-held island of Nauru.
After an overhaul at Pearl Harbor, the Alabama returned to the Western Pacific in late January 1944. She was assigned to support the invasion of the Marshall Islands and, along with the USS South Dakota and USS North Carolina, shelled Japanese positions on the island of Roi on Jan. 29. She bombarded the island of Namur the next day, firing 330 rounds of 16-inch shells and more than 1500 five-inch shells at Japanese positions, doing heavy damage to an airfield, buildings and gun emplacements. As part of the battle group supporting the carrier USS Bunker Hill, the Alabama took part in the heavy air and sea attack on the Japanese stronghold of Truk on Feb. 16-17, which caused severe damage.
On Feb. 21, 1944, the Alabama’s task force came under attack from Japanese aircraft. While firing on the attacking planes, five-inch gun mount No. 9 accidentally fired into gun mount No. 5, killing five men inside and wounding another 11. It was the single largest loss of life on the ship during the war. In late March, the Alabama was assigned to escort the carrier USS Yorktown as she conducted air strikes against Japanese bases in the Caroline Islands. On the night of March 29, six Japanese planes attempted to attack the American force; the Alabama shot down one attacker on her own and assisted in the destruction of another.
In mid-April 1944, the Alabama was assigned to screen the carrier USS Enterprise as part of Task Force 58. She not only provided coverage for the Enterprise, but the island of Ponape in the Caroline islands, damaging a Japanese airfield and seaplane base. On June 12, the Alabama fired a six-hour barrage at the island of Saipan in preparation for the American invasion of that island three days later. When it was discovered the initial barrage had been less successful than initially thought, she opened fire once more in support of U.S. forces on the beachhead.
On June 19, the American fleet endured a massive Japanese air attack during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The Alabama was the first U.S. ship to spot the initial wave of Japanese planes approaching the fleet, shortly after 10 a.m. She would take part in the defense of the American fleet, firing on the few Japanese aircraft that were able to get close to the fleet during what became known as the “Marianas Turkey Shoot.”
Serving as the flagship for Rear Admiral E.W. Hanson, the commander of Battleship Division 9, the Alabama supported the carrier USS Bunker Hill before and during the July 21 invasion of Guam. While screening the USS Essex she would take part in the invasions of Palau, Ulithi and Yap in early September. She would spend most of the remainder of the month in the waters off the Philippines, supporting American carriers as they launched strikes against Cebu Island, Leyte, Negros and Bohol.
When the invasion of the Philippines began with the assault on Leyte on Oct. 20, 1944, the Alabama screened American carriers as they attacked Japanese bases on or near the Philippine Islands to prevent air strikes against the invasion fleet. When the Japanese attempted to destroy the U.S. landing force in a three-pronged attack during what became known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Alabama supported air attacks against the Japanese Southern Force in the Surigao Strait, then steamed north to support raids on the Japanese Central Force nearing San Bernardino Strait. The Alabama went even farther north to support attacks on the diversionary Japanese carrier fleet near Cape Engano, but had to reverse course quickly when Admiral Kurita’s Central Force re-entered San Bernardino Strait and appeared certain to wipe out the small American force left defending the invasion fleet. Kurita, however, lost his nerve and the Japanese had retreated before the Alabama returned.
The Alabama would spend most of November and December in the waters off the Philippines, supporting American attacks and landings on the remaining Philippine Islands. She endured severe winds and high seas during Typhoon Cobra on Dec. 18, suffering severe damage to her OS2-U Kingfisher floatplanes and minor damage to her superstructure. By the end of the 1944, she was on her way to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Wash., for an overhaul.
The Alabama remained in dry dock until March 17, 1945 and would not return to the Western Pacific until late April. She was deployed to the waters off Okinawa to support U.S. troops locked in a bitter struggle on the island and to protect American carriers, which were under almost constant attack from kamikaze suicide flights. On May 14, the Alabama shot down two kamikazes and assisted in the destruction of two more.
In early June, the Alabama bombarded the Japanese island of Minami Daito; in July, she would shell multiple industrial targets north of Tokyo and other targets of importance on the Japanese Home Islands of Honshu, Hokkaido and Kyushu. On the night of July 17-18, the Alabama and her sister battleships conducted the first night bombardment of mainland Japan, hammering six industrial plants at Hitachi-Mito, just eight miles northeast of Tokyo. Watching the spectacle from the Alabama was retired Rear Admiral and famed explorer Richard Byrd.
With the surrender of the Japanese on Aug. 15, 1945, the Alabama’s contingent of Marines and a number of sailors were deployed to serve as part of the first occupation force. By Sept. 20, she was on her way back to the United States, having won nine battle stars and shot down 22 Japanese aircraft. She arrived in San Francisco on Oct. 16.
Decommissioning
With the U.S. military rapidly downsizing after the end of World War II, the Alabama was decommissioned on Jan. 9, 1947. She sat in Puget Sound for another 15 years, before she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1, 1962. In June 1964, the ship was officially deeded to the people of the State of Alabama, who had raised funds to make her a museum ship. The Alabama arrived in Mobile Bay on Sept. 14, 1964 and opened to the public on Jan. 9, 1965. The bunk of Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, who served on the Alabama during the war, is specially designated.
The Alabama was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
In 1992, the Alabama served as the backdrop for most of the scenes shot for the Steven Segal action film “Under Siege,” which was supposed to have taken place on the USS Missouri. When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, the Alabama suffered severe damage and listed eight degrees to port. That damage has been repaired and she remains open to the public today.
Characteristics of the USS Alabama (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
Class and type: South Dakota-class (1939) battleship
Displacement: 35,000 tons
Length: 680 feet (210 m)
Beam: 107.8 feet (32.9 m)
Draft: 29.3 feet (8.9 m)
Speed: 27 knots
Complement: 115 officers, 1678 men
Armament: nine 16 inch guns, 20 five-inch guns, 24 40 mm cannon, 16 20 mm cannon, but increased as the war progressed
Career:
Ordered: 1 April 1939
Builder: Norfolk Navy Yard
Laid down: 1 February 1940
Launched: 16 February 1942
Commissioned: 16 August 1942
Decommissioned: 9 January 1947
Struck: 1 June 1962
Nickname: “Lucky A”
Honors and awards: Nine Battle Stars
Fate: Museum ship since 11 June 1964
Timeline:
April 1939: USS Alabama ordered
February 1940: Keel of USS Alabama laid down
February 1942: USS Alabama launched
August 1942: USS Alabama commissioned
June 1943: USS Alabama joins British Home Fleet for temporary duty
December 1943: USS Alabama bombards Nauru
October—December 1944: USS Alabama supports invasion of the Philippines
July 1945: USS Alabama bombards Japanese mainland
January 1947: USS Alabama decommissioned
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Alabama_(BB-60)
http://www.ussalabama.com
