Mobile, Alabama: USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

October 29, 2017

In this park are memorials honoring veterans of all wars, tanks, artillery, aircraft, the submarine USS Drum, and the battleship USS Alabama.  

Memorials

                 We sometimes feel as if the United States struggled alone in Viet Nam.  This display shows otherwise.

                 This monument honors war dogs and their handlers.

Tanks, Artillery, Vehicles, and Boats                 Sherman tank

                 A swift boat built in the mid-70s.  This is a MK3 patrol boat.

                 Replica of a bomb used during the war in Korea after a commander said the US had already dropped everything but the kitchen sink.

Aircraft

                 Huey

                  Lockheed A-12 built for the CIA in 1962.  This aircraft could travel at 3800 feet per second.  In a race with a bullet from an M-1 rifle, the A-12 would arrive cross country 7 minutes ahead of the bullet.

                 RF8A Crusader, a super-sonic single engine photo reconnaissance aircraft that was used to take photos of Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban missile crisis.

                 Army 1 was the designation for presidential helicopters from 1957-1976.  This one was used by Richard Nixon.

                 We thought this picture of a Coast Guard helicopter was made more interesting by the drone flying above it.

The Submarine USS Drum

The USS Drum served 13 patrols of up to two months each during World War II.  It sank at least 15 Japanese ships and is the oldest US submarine left in the world.

                 Control room

                 Control room

                 Control room

                 Torpedo room

                 Officers ate meals, held conferences, wrote reports and relaxed in the wardroom.

                 Officers’ 3-man stateroom

USS Battleship Alabama

Jane below 16″ guns                 Crew’s Galley

                 Crew’s berthing space

                 Brig.  The sign said “This is the bin for bad apples.”

                 Crew’s toilets.  There were rows of these, about 15 seats long over a waste-collecting trough.

                  The Stores Division Office staff processed paperwork for accounts regarding fuel, spare parts, consumable supplies, payrolls and services required by the ship.

Berthing for Marines who would fight land battles and keep order on board the ship.

                 Engine room

                 Ordinance

                  Projectiles for the 16″ guns

                 Captain’s cabin

                 Captain’s wardroom

An exhibit in the aircraft hanger featured the experiences of prisoners of war during the Vietnam conflict.  In the picture below, prisoners used socks they’d been given to create a Christmas tree decorated with toilet paper ornaments dyed with water treatment tablets and ground tile.