Its amazing that machines like battleships are still around in a way a memorial for those who served. My grandfather served as gunnery officer on Bismarck and survived and he was captured in Cherbourg by American soldiers and transport to I believe to Alabama and release by 1946. It's always great to see. Thank you for being my neighbor.
It's mind boggling the amount of work and material that went into building all these battleships, they were used a few years, and then so many of them were scrapped. It's good that we saved some but I wish we had saved all the battleships. The South Dakota, Washington, Indiana, etc ...
Well, I visited Typhoon class submarine and "Peter the Great" nuclear battlecruiser when I served in the navy. These things were dmn big! But I have to admit that battleship is even more impressive. Some kind of old-school engineering, especially these 16''s of main battery.
To truly appreciate the sheer size of the USS Alabama. You need to walk her decks, climb her access companionable and delve into her rich history. The Alabama was featured in the motion picture "Under Siege " with Steven Seagal, Gary Busey " and more. I myself along with my then wife hiked the USS Alabama or called by her crew as the Bama. We put down close to 1 mile of walking climbing on her many decks, you can ascend up to the 6th level of her war deck. It's fun for all. So give yourself plenty of time to explore the park. If you are a truck driver, I'd strongly recommend parking elsewhere as admission to the park cost me 40 in (2018) and then your admission to the ship itself
Amazing video quality and superb narration for another great video. You sir are an underrated channel and have earned yourself another subscriber. Keep it up, we love it!
I enjoyed that video. It's really interesting to see the similarities and differences between this ship and its cousins the Iowa class battleships. I was on the USS New Jersey back in November of 22 and the USS Wisconsin a few years back. The Alabama looks in amazing shape for an old ship that's been dormant for several decades. She could stand to get a new teak wood deck as the old one is looking pretty tired. They are currently re-decking the USS New Jersey's deck and more than halfway through the project. It looks awesome.
I got the chance to walk her decks a couple years back something nostalgic something in the air and something about the ship that makes you feel good vibrations.
When I was a kid in the late 70's the airplane to the catapult was laying on the deck with ropes around it. A hurricane had come through like a week before and tore it off, leaving it in the water below.. Apparently, they got tired of fishing it out...
I had went there for the ship but ended up spending the whole day talking with the guy who happened to pass us and turns out he restored a lot of the planes and he had some crazy stories about how he had to eject out of an F-4 over the gulf and his stories of restoring the B-25 parked there.
um, I could be wrong but as far as what I was told by my great uncle who served on the North Carolina BB55 there are turet hold down clips.. While the weight of the full turet and gun house did all the work. There were definitly clips bolted to the under side of the ring gear to keep the turet from jumping out, or falling out I guess. Although again with all that tonage sitting down in the barbet, Thise clips were just there to keep some arcitect happy I assume.
I can't believe how complete and untouched this ship is, it appears the ship is in full working order. Good job on preservation, even the paint in most places is original. Has anyone ever tried to power up the gun turrets, I wonder if this bad boy can fire blanks. Even a blank would be loud lol.
On most museum ships, the gun turrets have their centering pins welded in place, so, the turrets can't be traversed, as well as other de-militarization done to the guns.
@@Rogue-7.62 even if you can undo the pins, Ryan says in the same video you're referring to that shore power isn't enough to run the motors that operate the guns
Regarding the comment at about 26 minutes in, the size of each class of BB had to conform to certain limitations imposed by such things as arms treaties, ability to pass through the Panama Canal and certain mission capabilities such as, for example, carrying enough fuel oil to refuel her escorts for the trip across the Atlantic or Pacific. The South Dakota class of 4 ships were the last to be limited by treaty to 35,000 tons; the designers had to overcome that limitation in getting the desired space for her 16-inch 45s coupled with the engineering plant to get her to her desired speed of 27 knots and room for all the armor thickness and weight to protect her vitals from the very weight of shell that she would herself fire. Yep, thank God for America's bountiful nerd supply in the 1930s. Looking at Alabama's contemporaries of that age, her class was clearly in a class of its own. The British King George V class carried smaller guns in slower ships that were homely dowagers by comparison and significantly shorter-ranged. Following the South Dakotas, the U.S. would design and build the Iowa class, completing 4 during the war, bigger, longer, heavier and faster, and with the advanced 16-inch 50 cal. dual-purpose guns that, as things turned out, would be the last U.S. battleship guns sent to sea.
what would be cool if there was a way too highlight sections of that cut away photo of the ship pertaining too were your at in the making of this video?
Great video sir! I went to see the Alabama in 2021. I only got to see like 1/4 of it though because I was sick, it was extremely crowded and it was scorching hot. I'm looking to go back maybe this year or next year. I'm just wondering how you were able to be by yourself. Did you get there like super early in the morning or are there private tours available? If so how much are they? Thanks!
Great video. Imagine with of all the systems and engineering it took to run it, besides what it takes the humans to make this ship fight. I wonder if some engineer woke up one morning, thought, crap, I just remembered I had a better idea. With all the conduits and piping in that thing, how can you tell how to improve it! lol
There's a fair bit of misinformation in this. The one that sticks out the most is the claim that the 16 inch guns are only held down with gravity. This is untrue. This comes from the fact that Bismarck's wreck was found without turrets, and the fact that she specifically was built this way spread. Now, that's true, but Bismarck is the exception to the general rule. Most every battleship, the turrets are held down. You can even see pictures of Nagatos wreck, sitting upside down with the turrets still in place
Once lived on mobile been to that ship so many times one day visiting with friends I was at the front of the ship when my appendix rupture that was way over 30 years ago so when I see the front of this ship always reminds me of that day
Not all of it. As of now the current replacement project only covers main deck. No plan has yet been made as to when the upper level wood will be replaced as far as I am aware. It's possible that it will be some time as well considering it is in much better shape than main deck.
Interesting fact from me the beds on the Alabama are way more comfortable then the beds of the uss Yorktown and the reason being I have slept on both only reason being Boy Scouts had the amazing opportunity
imagine the designers an putting that ship together putting all that stuff in the hull of that ship every nut bolt wire pipe on an on mind blowing with 40s technology
Didnt know that about the South Dakota 16 inch guns . The Iowa's are not held by gravity . If the ship were to capsize they wont fall out like those of the Bismark.
Hi Jeff! Those tubes are used for hammocks. Sailors would tie the hammock ropes to the hooks you see near the bottom of the tubes. It’s still a nearly six-foot climb to get in one, so it takes a bit of care.
Two previous North Carolinas were kept in service since the South Dakota - class, albeit newer ships, was considered too cramped for the crew in a peacetime service. NC:s were mothballed quite soon too. You just need to look at the placement of DP - secondary guns, how tighly they are squeezed among the superstructure. Alabamas size was dictated by the washington naval treaty and budget limitations. They wanted a minimun sized hull to fit in about the same weaponry as North Carolinas and somewhat upgraded armour + underwater protection. The design accomplished all this, at the cost of crew discomfort.. 😀
All six battleships of the two classes were decommissioned in the same year, with USS Indiana being decommed a full two months after North Carolina and Washington.
well Alabama was supposed to be scrapped post war and was only saved by the state of Alabama and afaik out of the 8 BBs North Carolina is still the closest to her WWII Configuration while others had stuff removed
She has declined so much since I first toured her in the mid 1970's and again in the late 1980's. So sad to see her condition now. 😔😥😢 Her Kingfisher float planes, both of them, we're still on the launches in the 1st visit. Not only that, but her radar was rotating, though probably not actually functional any longer. At that time, her engines were also able to be reactivated and back to life, but that is certainly no longer the case. A few years ago, the park had allowed her to decline to the point that the US Navy actually threatened to retake possession of the ship and possibly scrap her. That was how disgraceful her condition had become due to neglect. The only reason that has not happened to the USS Texas, is because the State actually owns part of it and finances a lot of it's upkeep. The State of Alabama does absolutely nothing financially for the Alabama and the park is a privately owned group with ship on loan by the Navy.
I had the same thoughts. I've been on Alabama many times as a kid and had the pleasure to stay the night as a scout in one of the berthing compartments. I remember her being immaculate.
The SK-2 radar still rotates, there has always only been one Kingfisher (bought from the Mexican military), and the USN forbids any museum ship from getting up steam. Even if that were allowed, the ship is sitting in the bottom like North Carolina so starting the engines would only suck in silt and promptly destroy any system that needs feedwater. The same US Navy haphazardly removed a lot of parts for the Iowas, sometimes with torches and bolt cutters. There’s good news though. A multi-million dollar teak deck replacement is underway now. Lots of projects being done (turret interiors in particular), new paint and re-opened spaces done or planned. It’s harder to keep a BB looking as nice as, say, the destroyer Kidd, or ships with state funding. But work is being done and HNSA seems impressed. Good days are ahead for Mighty A.
@@PhantomP63 the Alabama did have 2 Kingfishers on her deck in the early 1970's. At some point on was removed, the other one was removed later, primary due to it's condition. What happened to the 1st one is anyone's question. However during in action picture research for WWII, you can see several B&W pictures with 2 Kingfisher's on it aft deck. Not sure if it had two launcher's though. The old pictures seem to suggest it didn't, it appears to be mounted to a fixed stowage mount and in position near the crane and slightly lower to the deck.
As someone who has worked and volunteers at the Alabama, what's truly sad is to see comments like this made by people who are only speculating based off their own uninformed perspectives and in your case very poor recollections. The ship is in great shape and is much more accurate to her wartime appearance than she was in the early decades of being a museum ship. So much equipment was removed when she was decommissioned and put into mothballs. When Alabama was brought to Mobile, she was missing a lot of weapons and equipment that the Navy removed, such as the 20mm and both catapults to name two very noticeable pieces. The current 20mm mounts were saved from the ghost fleet of ships in the Mobile River, that is why the ship has any at all. The one catapult the ship has ever had since becoming a museum was taken from a cruiser. That is why it doesn't properly fit and contacts one of the aft 40mm tubs. The ship and park only had one Kingfisher since coming to Mobile, and you can see this in older postcards and photos. There were never two while the ship was a museum. Additionally, the one Kingfisher was lashed to the deck on the ship's centerline, not on the catapult, you can see this in old photos of the museum as well. The machinery could never have been brought online by the park which is a legal matter. Plus it had been sat unused for nearly 20 years, no way it would ever become operable again without major shipyard work. Alabama was towed from Washington state to Mobile. Then when the Iowas were reactivated in the 80s the Navy ripped a bunch of machinery and other equipment out of the older museum ships. As well, the Navy never threatened Alabama with reclaiming the ship, after asking around only North Carolina received that threat. As for the radar, as a museum it only rotated because staff took time to put a motor on the mast to rotate the SK-2. That is why only that one antenna ever rotated while the ship was a museum, and it doesn't get used much now because the motor is wearing out and can't be easily replaced without taking the mast off the ship as was done in the first place. The USS Alabama has most definitely not been neglected, and her condition now is arguably fantastic for her age as well as closest to her wartime fit she has ever been in since becoming a museum. The deck is being replaced, the ship is constantly receiving fresh coats of paint inside and out, the correct colors as well. Pretty much anything that can be restored to as close to working order as possible is being restored, they're even trying to get the ship's intercom working again. This ship is far from neglected and far from being in any kind of poor state. Your memories are wildly inaccurate and your complaints are misguided and unnecessary.
its called a conning tower and they wouldnt even have used it lots of battleships of that generation didnt even have them for some reason the u.s ones did
Its hard to appreciate how absolutely massive battleships are and how the inside is like a small town in itself.
It was easy for me when I slept on the USS Yorktown as a boyscout
9:44 I Iove how the SR-71/A-12 is just casually hanging out in the parking lot.... 😂
They keep that inside. Don't know what your looking at?
@@solidgroundministries6469yeesh…that came out a little bit harsh. Wanna try that again?
Its amazing that machines like battleships are still around in a way a memorial for those who served. My grandfather served as gunnery officer on Bismarck and survived and he was captured in Cherbourg by American soldiers and transport to I believe to Alabama and release by 1946. It's always great to see. Thank you for being my neighbor.
It's mind boggling the amount of work and material that went into building all these battleships, they were used a few years, and then so many of them were scrapped. It's good that we saved some but I wish we had saved all the battleships. The South Dakota, Washington, Indiana, etc ...
Tanks & planes are nice, but nothing stirs the blood like a badass battleship.
Yep the main reason I go to mobile Alabama is to go to the battleship
What an awesome walk-around of one beautiful ship. WoW!!
Thanks for posting this video. Our family plans to visit in the spring and we wanted to see in advance what was open to see. 👍👍👍
Kind of nice to have the whole place to yourself while you’re touring. Thanks for filming.
That is an incredible piece of machinery. Thank you for the tour. I don't live in that area and it is really difficult to visit it.
The water fountains worked when I was there ..... the whole ship is beautiful 😍
Wasn't the movie "Under Siege" filmed here in lieu of the Missouri? Was here in 2001and enjoyed it very much!!!
Yes!
Last month I toured the Missouri. It's amazing how vastly different they are after the upgrades. Especially with the birthing racks and mess decks.
Well, I visited Typhoon class submarine and "Peter the Great" nuclear battlecruiser when I served in the navy. These things were dmn big! But I have to admit that battleship is even more impressive. Some kind of old-school engineering, especially these 16''s of main battery.
To truly appreciate the sheer size of the USS Alabama. You need to walk her decks, climb her access companionable and delve into her rich history.
The Alabama was featured in the motion picture "Under Siege " with Steven Seagal, Gary Busey " and more.
I myself along with my then wife hiked the USS Alabama or called by her crew as the Bama.
We put down close to 1 mile of walking climbing on her many decks, you can ascend up to the 6th level of her war deck. It's fun for all. So give yourself plenty of time to explore the park. If you are a truck driver, I'd strongly recommend parking elsewhere as admission to the park cost me 40 in (2018) and then your admission to the ship itself
Great video. We’re considering a trip to see the Alabama very soon. Thank you!
Amazing video quality and superb narration for another great video. You sir are an underrated channel and have earned yourself another subscriber. Keep it up, we love it!
Thanks. I try to put out the best possible videos here.
great tour thank you
Even the "little" guns are lethal. I went on it in 2015 or so, driving back from Houston. It is huge and bristling with guns.
This was really great. Thank you.
You're welcome.
I enjoyed that video. It's really interesting to see the similarities and differences between this ship and its cousins the Iowa class battleships. I was on the USS New Jersey back in November of 22 and the USS Wisconsin a few years back. The Alabama looks in amazing shape for an old ship that's been dormant for several decades. She could stand to get a new teak wood deck as the old one is looking pretty tired. They are currently re-decking the USS New Jersey's deck and more than halfway through the project. It looks awesome.
Alabama is currently undergoing a deck replacement project for main deck
Never seen the inerts of a real battleship before this was quite fascinating
Great video keep up the great work!
I got the chance to walk her decks a couple years back something nostalgic something in the air and something about the ship that makes you feel good vibrations.
Also, it’s pretty insane to se the amount of work it takes to fire her guns
such a magnificent ship! thanks for sharing!
When I was a kid in the late 70's the airplane to the catapult was laying on the deck with ropes around it. A hurricane had come through like a week before and tore it off, leaving it in the water below.. Apparently, they got tired of fishing it out...
Thats a nice touch with the sound in the engine room. Always seems weird being in something usually full of noise but its silent.
Great tour.
Really enjoyed watching this-i got to know about it when i was going close by in a live truck stream (The ridealong gang)
Great video! 👍👍
I got to see this ship in 2017. Was so cool
Amazing to see on the map how small the Atlantic Ocean is compared to the massive Pacific.
Seen her a few times. She's a Beast.
I have a cool pic of my Wife during a road trip cross country on one of the guns. Big!
I had went there for the ship but ended up spending the whole day talking with the guy who happened to pass us and turns out he restored a lot of the planes and he had some crazy stories about how he had to eject out of an F-4 over the gulf and his stories of restoring the B-25 parked there.
My Great Uncle was a plank owner, and, called her home from '42 through '46, when he was discharged.
um, I could be wrong but as far as what I was told by my great uncle who served on the North Carolina BB55 there are turet hold down clips.. While the weight of the full turet and gun house did all the work. There were definitly clips bolted to the under side of the ring gear to keep the turet from jumping out, or falling out I guess. Although again with all that tonage sitting down in the barbet, Thise clips were just there to keep some arcitect happy I assume.
I can't believe how complete and untouched this ship is, it appears the ship is in full working order. Good job on preservation, even the paint in most places is original. Has anyone ever tried to power up the gun turrets, I wonder if this bad boy can fire blanks. Even a blank would be loud lol.
On most museum ships, the gun turrets have their centering pins welded in place, so, the turrets can't be traversed, as well as other de-militarization done to the guns.
@@ExUSSailor That sucks.
@@ExUSSailor watch the USS New Jersey video on how they welded those turrets. Very easily undone.
@@Rogue-7.62 even if you can undo the pins, Ryan says in the same video you're referring to that shore power isn't enough to run the motors that operate the guns
The paint is definitely not original in most places.
Regarding the comment at about 26 minutes in, the size of each class of BB had to conform to certain limitations imposed by such things as arms treaties, ability to pass through the Panama Canal and certain mission capabilities such as, for example, carrying enough fuel oil to refuel her escorts for the trip across the Atlantic or Pacific. The South Dakota class of 4 ships were the last to be limited by treaty to 35,000 tons; the designers had to overcome that limitation in getting the desired space for her 16-inch 45s coupled with the engineering plant to get her to her desired speed of 27 knots and room for all the armor thickness and weight to protect her vitals from the very weight of shell that she would herself fire. Yep, thank God for America's bountiful nerd supply in the 1930s. Looking at Alabama's contemporaries of that age, her class was clearly in a class of its own. The British King George V class carried smaller guns in slower ships that were homely dowagers by comparison and significantly shorter-ranged. Following the South Dakotas, the U.S. would design and build the Iowa class, completing 4 during the war, bigger, longer, heavier and faster, and with the advanced 16-inch 50 cal. dual-purpose guns that, as things turned out, would be the last U.S. battleship guns sent to sea.
nice video you have earned one more subscriber
That top deck needs re-doing bad! Been there. How does something that heavy float?
SWEET THANK YOU
what would be cool if there was a way too highlight sections of that cut away photo of the ship pertaining too were your at in the making of this video?
Great video sir! I went to see the Alabama in 2021. I only got to see like 1/4 of it though because I was sick, it was extremely crowded and it was scorching hot. I'm looking to go back maybe this year or next year. I'm just wondering how you were able to be by yourself. Did you get there like super early in the morning or are there private tours available? If so how much are they? Thanks!
Exactly what I am wondering because I would love to take my son.
Que majestuoso son estos buques
Great video. Imagine with of all the systems and engineering it took to run it, besides what it takes the humans to make this ship fight. I wonder if some engineer woke up one morning, thought, crap, I just remembered I had a better idea. With all the conduits and piping in that thing, how can you tell how to improve it! lol
There's a fair bit of misinformation in this. The one that sticks out the most is the claim that the 16 inch guns are only held down with gravity. This is untrue.
This comes from the fact that Bismarck's wreck was found without turrets, and the fact that she specifically was built this way spread. Now, that's true, but Bismarck is the exception to the general rule. Most every battleship, the turrets are held down. You can even see pictures of Nagatos wreck, sitting upside down with the turrets still in place
Once lived on mobile been to that ship so many times one day visiting with friends I was at the front of the ship when my appendix rupture that was way over 30 years ago so when I see the front of this ship always reminds me of that day
Update: All of the topside teak is in the process of being replaced. About 50% complete so far - should be done sometime 2024.
Not all of it. As of now the current replacement project only covers main deck. No plan has yet been made as to when the upper level wood will be replaced as far as I am aware. It's possible that it will be some time as well considering it is in much better shape than main deck.
Interesting fact from me the beds on the Alabama are way more comfortable then the beds of the uss Yorktown and the reason being I have slept on both only reason being Boy Scouts had the amazing opportunity
I would actually love to see the boilers....
The turrets are not held in by gravity,they have clips just like the Iowa's do,resurch it and you see.
imagine the designers an putting that ship together putting all that stuff in the hull of that ship every nut bolt wire pipe on an on mind blowing with 40s technology
Didnt know that about the South Dakota 16 inch guns . The Iowa's are not held by gravity . If the ship were to capsize they wont fall out like those of the Bismark.
Your wrong about the main turret's,all U.S. Battleship turret's had clip's that locked them down, sorry knew two men that worked on them.
at 15:42, what are the various tubes hanging from the upper deck?
Hi Jeff! Those tubes are used for hammocks. Sailors would tie the hammock ropes to the hooks you see near the bottom of the tubes. It’s still a nearly six-foot climb to get in one, so it takes a bit of care.
Two previous North Carolinas were kept in service since the South Dakota - class, albeit newer ships, was considered too cramped for the crew in a peacetime service. NC:s were mothballed quite soon too.
You just need to look at the placement of DP - secondary guns, how tighly they are squeezed among the superstructure.
Alabamas size was dictated by the washington naval treaty and budget limitations. They wanted a minimun sized hull to fit in about the same weaponry as North Carolinas and somewhat upgraded armour + underwater protection. The design accomplished all this, at the cost of crew discomfort.. 😀
All six battleships of the two classes were decommissioned in the same year, with USS Indiana being decommed a full two months after North Carolina and Washington.
i was on this 2x as a paratrooper in the 80s when i was in the area
Im building a 1/350 scale model of the alabama and its huge compared to the US fletcher destroyer model in the same scale
We made some cool stuff back then
I’ve been there in 1976
406mm？
nice
well Alabama was supposed to be scrapped post war and was only saved by the state of Alabama and afaik out of the 8 BBs North Carolina is still the closest to her WWII Configuration while others had stuff removed
Last of the treaty Battleships.
i just toured this
She has declined so much since I first toured her in the mid 1970's and again in the late 1980's. So sad to see her condition now. 😔😥😢
Her Kingfisher float planes, both of them, we're still on the launches in the 1st visit. Not only that, but her radar was rotating, though probably not actually functional any longer. At that time, her engines were also able to be reactivated and back to life, but that is certainly no longer the case. A few years ago, the park had allowed her to decline to the point that the US Navy actually threatened to retake possession of the ship and possibly scrap her. That was how disgraceful her condition had become due to neglect.
The only reason that has not happened to the USS Texas, is because the State actually owns part of it and finances a lot of it's upkeep. The State of Alabama does absolutely nothing financially for the Alabama and the park is a privately owned group with ship on loan by the Navy.
I had the same thoughts. I've been on Alabama many times as a kid and had the pleasure to stay the night as a scout in one of the berthing compartments. I remember her being immaculate.
The SK-2 radar still rotates, there has always only been one Kingfisher (bought from the Mexican military), and the USN forbids any museum ship from getting up steam. Even if that were allowed, the ship is sitting in the bottom like North Carolina so starting the engines would only suck in silt and promptly destroy any system that needs feedwater.
The same US Navy haphazardly removed a lot of parts for the Iowas, sometimes with torches and bolt cutters.
There’s good news though. A multi-million dollar teak deck replacement is underway now. Lots of projects being done (turret interiors in particular), new paint and re-opened spaces done or planned.
It’s harder to keep a BB looking as nice as, say, the destroyer Kidd, or ships with state funding. But work is being done and HNSA seems impressed. Good days are ahead for Mighty A.
@@PhantomP63 that's not all true, there is a WW2 US Submarine that has engines that do run. At least 3 of the 4 do anyway.
@@PhantomP63 the Alabama did have 2 Kingfishers on her deck in the early 1970's. At some point on was removed, the other one was removed later, primary due to it's condition. What happened to the 1st one is anyone's question. However during in action picture research for WWII, you can see several B&W pictures with 2 Kingfisher's on it aft deck. Not sure if it had two launcher's though. The old pictures seem to suggest it didn't, it appears to be mounted to a fixed stowage mount and in position near the crane and slightly lower to the deck.
As someone who has worked and volunteers at the Alabama, what's truly sad is to see comments like this made by people who are only speculating based off their own uninformed perspectives and in your case very poor recollections. The ship is in great shape and is much more accurate to her wartime appearance than she was in the early decades of being a museum ship. So much equipment was removed when she was decommissioned and put into mothballs.
When Alabama was brought to Mobile, she was missing a lot of weapons and equipment that the Navy removed, such as the 20mm and both catapults to name two very noticeable pieces. The current 20mm mounts were saved from the ghost fleet of ships in the Mobile River, that is why the ship has any at all. The one catapult the ship has ever had since becoming a museum was taken from a cruiser. That is why it doesn't properly fit and contacts one of the aft 40mm tubs. The ship and park only had one Kingfisher since coming to Mobile, and you can see this in older postcards and photos. There were never two while the ship was a museum. Additionally, the one Kingfisher was lashed to the deck on the ship's centerline, not on the catapult, you can see this in old photos of the museum as well. The machinery could never have been brought online by the park which is a legal matter. Plus it had been sat unused for nearly 20 years, no way it would ever become operable again without major shipyard work. Alabama was towed from Washington state to Mobile. Then when the Iowas were reactivated in the 80s the Navy ripped a bunch of machinery and other equipment out of the older museum ships. As well, the Navy never threatened Alabama with reclaiming the ship, after asking around only North Carolina received that threat. As for the radar, as a museum it only rotated because staff took time to put a motor on the mast to rotate the SK-2. That is why only that one antenna ever rotated while the ship was a museum, and it doesn't get used much now because the motor is wearing out and can't be easily replaced without taking the mast off the ship as was done in the first place.
The USS Alabama has most definitely not been neglected, and her condition now is arguably fantastic for her age as well as closest to her wartime fit she has ever been in since becoming a museum. The deck is being replaced, the ship is constantly receiving fresh coats of paint inside and out, the correct colors as well. Pretty much anything that can be restored to as close to working order as possible is being restored, they're even trying to get the ship's intercom working again. This ship is far from neglected and far from being in any kind of poor state. Your memories are wildly inaccurate and your complaints are misguided and unnecessary.
its called a conning tower and they wouldnt even have used it lots of battleships of that generation didnt even have them for some reason the u.s ones did
Uss Alabama is a South Dakota class battleship not an Iowa class.
18:00 no Casey Ryback in the kitchen :(
I've been here before
those were powder kegs
Go banana roll tide 🌊
thats a myth only bismarks turrets weren't locked in place every other battleships are especially i know ours were
Infuriating that we didn't preserve any of our battleships and just scrapped them all
The USS Alabama is way better than the USS Iowa because the Iowa is completely stripped unlike that one!
Old girl is beautiful still.
炮弹真大😮
Americas the only country more concerned about preserving warships than it is about saving it’s collapsing infrastructure and society.
Maybe you should call it what it is, a memorial and museum. Ever been to Normandy or to the concentration camp Dachau.
How many battleship museums does the US have?
exactly what are you doing to change it ? don't say nothing