USS Alabama: Visiting a battleship and museum

The Mobile, Alabama, attraction is one of eight United States battleships that have been converted to museums

The USS Alabama’s powerful gun turrets rest quietly next to Mobile Bay.

The Alabama is one of eight battleships that have been converted to museums or memorials.

The Iowa (near Los Angeles), North Carolina (Wilmington), Texas (soon to be Galveston), Massachusetts (Fall River), Wisconsin (New Orleans) and Arizona and Missouri (Hawaii) all serve as monuments to years of service as some of the most powerful ships at sea.

Tourists can visit the retired battleships, walking through the inner workings of sailors’ quarters, kitchens and communications offices and the massive array of guns that once ruled the waves.

The USS Alabama is preserved as a museum in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by John Naughton.)

It’s fascinating stuff to a history fan like me.

I visited the Alabama in February and experienced a mix of emotions. I contemplated the sacrifices so many servicemen and women have made for our nation; I absorbed the sheer magnitude of the Alabama’s nine enormous 16-inch guns that once blasted shells toward Japanese positions during World War II.

The Alabama has been parked, if you will, since 1964. It’s a lasting reminder of America’s commitment to defeating the Axis powers.

Numerous Iowans served aboard the Alabama. Among them was Bob Feller, who left the Cleveland Indians to serve in the Navy.

The USS Drum, a dry docked submarine, is available for tours in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by John Naughton.)

I’ve also visited the USS Iowa in San Pedro, California. I felt an extra sense of pride, being an Iowa native. (At that time, anyone with an Iowa drivers license was admitted free!)

The USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park has a lot more than one of the nation’s biggest ships to serve during wartime.