Anchors Aweigh! (Part 1)

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My last official stop of this wonderful vacation was a repeat visit to Battleship Park in Mobile, Alabama. It is the home of three different museums, and I’ll review each separately. The highlight of the park is BB-80, the USS Alabama. Built in 1942, she saw plenty of action in the Pacific theater during World War II. Thankfully, she never took an enemy hit (which is pretty amazing in itself, given all the kamikaze attacks on ships in the Pacific). In fact, the worst incident was “self-inflicted,” a mis-fire of a turret into a gun mount, killing five of the sailors there. The tour is self-guided, with plenty of signs to explain things as you walk along. Let it be mentioned, however, it is a real battleship, meaning on ADA ramps or the like. You have to go up and down very steep ladders to get to the various decks. I was in the Navy at the “wrong time” (or “right time,” depending on how one looks at it), when women were not allowed on ships. This and the boot camp mock-up (lovingly known as the “USS Neversails”) is as close as I ever got. It still brought back wonderful memories of a childhood trip (we were here when I was seven) and my time in the Navy.