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USS Alabama (BB-60)
Encyclopedia
USS Alabama (BB-60), a South Dakota-class battleship
, was the sixth completed ship of the United States Navy
named for the U.S. state
of Alabama
, however she was only the third commissioned ship with that name. Alabama was commissioned in 1942 and served in World War II in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. She was decommissioned in 1947 and assigned to the reserve duty. She was retired in 1962. In 1964, Alabama was taken to Mobile Bay and opened as a museum ship the following year. The ship was added to the National Historic Landmark
registry in 1986.
, the senior Senator from Alabama
. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox
, spoke at the launching ceremony: "As Alabama slides down the ways today, she carries with her a great name and a great tradition. We cannot doubt that before many months have passed she will have had her first taste of battle. The Navy welcomes her as a new queen among her peers. In the future, as in the past, may the name Alabama ever stand for fighting spirit and devotion to a cause." Alabama was commissioned on 16 August 1942, with Captain
George B. Wilson in command.
on 11 November 1942. As the year 1943 began, the new battleship headed north to conduct operational training out of Casco Bay
, Maine
. She returned to Chesapeake Bay on 11 January to carry out the last week of shakedown training. Following a period of availability and logistics support at Norfolk, Alabama was assigned to Task Group 22.2 (TG 22.2), and returned to Casco Bay for tactical maneuvers on 13 February 1943.
With the movement of substantial British strength toward the Mediterranean theater to prepare for the invasion of Sicily
, the Royal Navy
lacked the heavy ships necessary to cover the northern convoy routes. The British appeal for help on those lines soon led to the temporary assignment of Alabama and to the Home Fleet.
On 2 April 1943, Alabama, as part of Task Force 22 (TF 22), sailed for the Orkney Islands
with her sister ship and a screen of five destroyer
s. Proceeding via Little Placentia Sound
and Naval Station Argentia
, Newfoundland
, the battleship reached Scapa Flow
on 19 May, reporting for duty with Task Force 61 and becoming a unit of the British Home Fleet. She soon embarked on a period of intensive operational training to coordinate joint operations
.
Early in June, Alabama and her sister ship, along with British Home Fleet units, covered the reinforcement of the garrison on the island of Spitsbergen
, which lay on the northern flank of the convoy route to Russia
, in an operation that took the ship across the Arctic Circle
. Soon after her return to Scapa Flow, she was inspected by Admiral
Harold R. Stark, Commander, United States Naval Forces, Europe.
Shortly thereafter, in July, Alabama participated in "Operation Governor", a diversion aimed toward southern Norway
, which was an attempt to draw the German military's attention away from the real Allied target, the Italian island of Sicily
. This operation had also been carried out in an attempt to lure the out of her northern Norwegian seaport and into battle, but the German Navy
(Kriegsmarine) did not rise to this challenge. The Tirpitz remained in her port in a northern Norwegian fjord
.
The Alabama was detached from the British Home Fleet on 1 August 1943, and, in company with the USS South Dakota and their screening destroyers, steamed for Norfolk, Virginia
, arriving there on 9 August. For the next ten days, Alabama underwent a period of overhaul, repair, and shore leave for the sailors. This work completed, Alabama departed from Norfolk on 20 August, bound for the Pacific Ocean
. She transited the Panama Canal
five days later, and then steamed across the Pacific. She reached her assigned destination of Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, the New Hebrides Islands, in the southwestern Pacific, on 14 September.
Following a month and a half of exercises and training with fast carrier
task groups, Alabama steamed to the Fiji Islands, arriving on 7 November. Alabama steamed out of port on 11 November to take part in Operation Galvanic, the assault on the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands
. The battleship screened the fast carriers, for defense against surface and air attacks, while they launched air attacks on Jaluit and Milli Atolls
, in the Marshall Islands
, attempting to neutralize Japanese airfields located there, within range of the Gilberts. Alabama supported the U.S. Marine landings on the main island Betio
of the Tarawa Atoll
on 20 November, and soon afterwards, she supported the U.S. Army landing on Makin Atoll
. During the night of 26 November, Alabama twice opened up antiaircraft fire to drive off Japanese aircraft that approached her task group.
On 8 December, Alabama along with five other fast battleships, bombarded Nauru Island, an enemy phosphate-producing center, causing severe damage to shore installations there. Firing some 535 large caliber rounds in the bombardment, she also took the destroyer alongside, after that warship had received a direct hit from a Japanese shore battery on Nauru. The Alabama took aboard three wounded sailors for treatment by the battleship's doctors – since the smaller warships did not have doctors.
Alabama next escorted the aircraft carrier
s and the back to the port of Efate, arriving on 12 December. The Alabama departed from the New Hebrides on 5 January 1944 for Pearl Harbor
, Hawaii
. which she arrived at on 12 January. She underwent a brief stint in the large drydock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. The major need for drydock repair was the replacement of her port outboard of her four propeller
s. The Alabama was soon underway again to return to the combat area of the Pacific Ocean.
, the Ellice Islands, on 21 January 1944, and there she rejoined the Fast Carrier Task Force
s. She was assigned to Task Group 58.2, which was centered around the carrier and light carriers. The Alabama left the Ellice Islands on 25 January to help carry out "Operation Flintlock", the wresting of selected members of the Marshall Islands, such as Kwajalein Atoll and Eniewetok Atoll
, from the Japanese. The Alabama, the South Dakota, and the bombarded Roi Islet
on 29 January and Namur Islet
on 30 January. She fired 330 rounds of 16 in (406.4 mm) shells and 1,562 rounds of 5 in (127 mm) ammunition toward Japanese targets, destroying planes, airfield facilities, blockhouses, other buildings, and artillery
emplacements. Over the following days of this campaign, Alabama patrolled the area north of Kwajalein. On 12 February, Alabama sortied out with the aircraft carrier Bunker Hills Task Group, and many other members of the Fast Carrier Task Force to launch very major carrier air attacks on the Japanese installations, aircraft, and shipping at the major Japanese Central Pacific base of Truk Atoll. This large series of air attacks, flown on 16 and 17 February, caused heavy damage to all of the Japanese airfields, and other installations, and the enemy shipping that had remained there. Very little of the Imperial Japanese Navy
fleet, which had used Truk as a major forward base for years remained there, since it had already departed northwards to safer waters.
Upon leaving the vicinity of Truk, the USS Alabama began steaming toward the large islands and Japanese air bases of the Marianas
to screen the aircraft carriers in heavy air raids on the islands of Tinian
, Saipan
, and Guam
. During these air attacks on the Marianas, the Alabama, while fighting against Japanese air attacks on the 21st of February, her 5 in (127 mm), 38 calibre, dual-purpose gun mount number nine accidentally fired into gun mount number five. Five sailors died, and 11 more were wounded in the mishap. The twenty 5-inch dual-purpose guns of the Alabama were her major, long-range, radar-directed antiaircraft guns, as well as forming her secondary armament for ship-to-ship combat and shore bombardments.
After the carrier air strikes were completed on 22 February 1944, the Alabama conducted a sweep of the ocean southeast of Saipan, looking for damaged enemy ships, and finding none, she then returned to Majuro Atoll on 26 February. There she served temporarily as the flagship for Vice Admiral
Marc Mitscher
, the Commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force, called Task Force 58 at that time, from the third to the eighth of March.
The battleship's next mission was to screen the fast carriers while they projected air strikes against Japanese positions on the islands of Palau
, Yap
, Ulithi
, and Woleai
, in the Caroline Islands
. She steamed out from Majuro on 22 March with Task Force 58, in the screen of the carrier . On the night of 29 March, about six enemy warplanes approached Task Group 58.3, with which the Alabama was operating, and four planes broke off to attack ships in the vicinity of the battleship. The Alabama helped in shooting down some of these aircraft and driving the rest away.
On 30 March, planes from Task Force 58 began bombing Japanese airfields, shipping, fleet servicing facilities, and other installations on the islands of Palau, Yap, Ulithi and Woleai. During that day, the Alabama again provided antiaircraft fire whenever enemy planes appeared. At 2044 hours on the 30th, a single plane approached Task Group 58.3, but the Alabama and other ships drove it off.
The Alabama next returned briefly to Majuro, before she steamed out on 13 April with Task Force 58, this time in the screen of the carrier . During the next three weeks, Task Force 58 hit enemy targets on Hollandia, currently known as Jayapura
, Wakde
, Sawar, and Sarmi
along the northern coast of New Guinea
. She next covered U.S. Army landings at Aitape
, Tanahmerah Bay
, and Humboldt Bay
on New Guines, and then escorted further aircraft carrier raids on Truk Atoll.
As part of the preliminaries of the invasion of the Marianas, the Alabama, in a battle line with five other fast battleships, shelled the large island of Ponape
, in the Caroline Islands, which was the site of major Japanese airfields and a seaplane base. As the Alabama Captain, Fred T. Kirtland, later noted, this bombardment, of 70 minutes' duration, was conducted in a "leisurely manner". The Alabama then returned to Majuro Atoll on 4 May 1944 to prepare for the Marine Corps and Army troops' invasion of the Marianas.
After a month spent in exercises and refitting, the Alabama again got under way as a part of Task Force 58 to participate in "Operation Forager", the invasion of the Marianas Islands and the recapture of Guam
from Japanese occupation. On 12 June, the Alabama screened the aircraft carriers as they made air strikes on Saipan. On 13 June, the Alabama took part in the six-hour-long pre-invasion bombardment of the western coast of Saipan, aimed at softening up the ground defenses, and also to cover the Navy minesweeping operations off the shore of the island. The Alabamas spotting planes reported that her salvoes had caused great destruction and fires in Garapan
town. Though the shelling appeared to be successful, it was later found to be a relative failure due to the lack of the specialized training and experience of warships gun crews that are really required for successful shore bombardments. The Alabama had spent many months in the Pacific screening aircraft carrier Task Groups, and thus concentrating the efforts of her sailors on antiaircraft firings to defend the carrier task groups against Japanese air attacks.
Additional air strikes and shore bombardments of Saipan by the fleet continued, and two Marine divisions landed on the heavily-defended island on 15 June. These were later reinforced by an Army division.
On 19 June 1944, during the last major carrier air battle of the War in the Pacific
, the Battle of the Philippine Sea
, the USS Alabama, operating with Task Group 58.7, provided the first confirmed radar warning to Task Force 58 of the incoming Japanese attackers. The Japanese aircraft were initially detected by shipboard radars at a distance of about 190 miles, but that detection was thought to be a radar anomaly. The USS Alabama formally reported its radar's detection of the attack at the distance of about 140 miles, and the USS Iowa confirmed this radar report soon afterwards.
Beginning at 1046 hours, and continuing over the course of the next five hours, the Japanese flung repeated air strikes against the Fast Carrier Task Force under the command of Vice Admiral Mitscher. These totaled seven attacking groups in all on that day. Three of these Japanese attacks were aimed at Task Group 58.7, and two of them caused the Alabama to open up with antiaircraft fire.
In the first instance, only two planes managed to evade the defending Navy fighter planes to attack the Task Group's ships. The only casualties were on board the battleship USS South Dakota, which suffered from one aerial bomb hit that killed one officer and 20 enlisted men; and also wounded an additional 23 sailors. One hour later, a second wave, that was composed mostly of torpedo planes
, bore in on an attack, but the Alabamas antiaircraft barrage helped repel two Japanese planes from attacking the already-struck USS South Dakota. The intense concentration paid to the group of incoming torpedo planes left one Japanese dive bomber nearly undetected, and it dropped its bombload close to the Alabama. The two small aerial bombs were near-misses, but caused no damage to the battleship.
What the U.S. Navy fighter pilots soon came to call the "Marianas Turkey Shoot", with nearly 400 Japanese airplanes shot down, plus the sinking of three Japanese aircraft carriers, practically finished off all Japanese naval air power. The Imperial Japanese Navy
was never again able to accumulate enough trained pilots and naval warplanes to engage in a serious air attack against the American Navy and its allies. Practically no more conventional air attacks were ever made against these ships, with the Japanese Navy and its Army Air Force resorting to determined kamikaze
attacks for the remainder of the War in the Pacific.
The USS Alabama had had a hand in this, as the Commander of Task Group 58.7 (the fast battleship fleet of the U.S. navy, Vice Admiral
Willis A. Lee
, recognized in his TBS (low-frequency voice radio) message to the ships of his Task Group at 1247 hours: "In the matter of reporting initial bogies, to IOWA well done, to ALABAMA very well done." The Alabamas radar early warning had allowed the aircraft carriers to scramble huge numbers of their fighters, which intercepted the inbound Japanese warplanes "at a considerable distance" from Task Force 58 – farther than would have been possible, otherwise.
The USS Alabama continued patrolling areas around the Marianas to protect the American landing forces on Saipan, screening the east carriers as they struck enemy shipping, aircraft, and shore installations on Guam, Tinian, Rota
, and Saipan. She then retired to the Marshall Islands for upkeep.
The Alabama, as flagship for Rear Admiral
E. W. Hanson, Commander, Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9), left Eniwetok on 14 July, sailing with the task group formed around Bunker Hill. She screened the fast carriers as they conducted preinvasion attacks and support of the landings on the island of Guam on 21 July. She returned briefly to Eniwetok on 11 August. On 30 August, she got underway in the screen of Essex to carry out Operation Stalemate II the seizure of Palau, Ulithi, and Yap. From 6–8 September, the forces launched strikes on the Carolinas.
The Alabama departed from the Carolines to steam to the Philippines
and provided cover for the carriers striking the islands of Cebu Island
, Leyte
, Bohol
and Negros from 12–14 September. The carriers launched strikes on shipping and installations in the Manila Bay
area on 21–22 September, and in the central Philippines area on 24 September. Alabama retired briefly to Saipan on 28 September, then proceeded to Ulithi on 1 October.
On 6 October, the Alabama sailed with TF 38 to support the liberation of the Philippines. Again operating as part of a fast carrier Task Group, the Alabama protected the flattops while they launched strikes on Japanese facilities at Okinawa, in the Penghu archipelago and Taiwan
.
Detached from the Formosa area on 14 October to sail toward Luzon
, the USS Alabama again used her anti-aircraft batteries in support of the carriers as enemy aircraft attempted to attack the formation. Alabamas gunners claimed three enemy aircraft shot down and a fourth damaged. By 15 October, Alabama was supporting landing operations on Leyte. She then screened the carriers as they conducted air strikes on Cebu, Negros, Panay
, northern Mindanao
, and Leyte on 21 October.
The Alabama, as a part of the carrier USS Enterprises screen, supported air operations against the Japanese Southern Force in the area off Surigao Strait
then moved north to strike the powerful Japanese Central Force heading for San Bernardino Strait
. After receiving reports of a third Japanese force, the battleship served in the screen of the fast carrier task force as it sped to Cape Engaño. On 24 October, although American air strikes destroyed four Japanese carriers in the Battle off Cape Engaño, the Japanese Central Force under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita
had transited San Bernardino Strait and emerged off the coast of Samar, where it fell upon a task group of American escort carriers and their destroyer and destroyer escort screen. Alabama reversed her course and headed for Samar to assist the greatly outnumbered American forces, but the Japanese had retreated by the time she reached the scene. She then joined the protective screen for Essex task group to hit enemy forces in the central Philippines before retiring to Ulithi on 30 October for replenishment.
Underway again on 3 November, the Alabama screened the fast carriers as they carried out sustained strikes against Japanese airfields, and installations on Luzon to prepare for a landing on Mindoro Island. She spent the next few weeks engaged in operations against the Visayas
and Luzon before retiring to Ulithi on 24 November.
The first half of December found the Alabama engaged in various training exercises and maintenance routines. She left Ulithi on 10 December, and reached the launching point for air strikes on Luzon on 14 December, as the fast carrier task forces launched aircraft to carry out preliminary strikes on airfields on Luzon that could threaten the landings slated to take place on Mindoro. From 14–16 December, a veritable umbrella of carrier aircraft covered the Luzon fields, preventing any enemy planes from getting airborne to challenge the Mindoro-bound convoys. Having completed her mission, she left the area to refuel on 17 December, but as she reached the fueling rendezvous, began encountering heavy weather. By daybreak on the 18th, rough seas and harrowing conditions rendered a fueling at sea impossible; 50 kn (60.9 mph; 98 km/h) winds caused ships to roll heavily. Alabama experienced rolls of 30°, had both her OS2U Kingfisher
floatplane
s so badly damaged that they were of no further value, and received minor damage to her structure. At one point in the typhoon, the Alabama recorded wind gusts up to 83 kn (101.1 mph; 162.7 km/h). Three destroyers, , , and , were lost to the typhoon. By 19 December, the storm had run its course, and Alabama arrived back at Ulithi on 24 December. After pausing there briefly, Alabama continued on to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
for overhaul.
coast. She got underway for Pearl Harbor on 4 April, arrived there on 10 April, and held a week of training exercises. She then continued on to Ulithi and moored there on 28 April.
The Alabama departed from Ulithi with TF 58 on 9 May, bound for the Ryukyu Islands
, to support forces which had landed on Okinawa on 1 April, and to protect the fast carriers as they launched air strikes on installations in the Ryukyus and on Kyūshū
. On 14 May, several Japanese planes penetrated the combat air patrol to get at the carriers; one crashed into Admiral Mitscher's flagship. Alabamas guns splashed two, and assisted in splashing two more.
Later on, the Alabama rode out a typhoon on 4–5 June, suffering only superficial damage, while lost her bow. Alabama subsequently bombarded the Japanese island of Minami Daito Shima, with other fast battleships on 10 June and then headed for Leyte Gulf
later in June to prepare to strike at the heart of Japan with the 3rd Fleet.
On 1 July, the Alabama and other Third Fleet warships got underway for the Japanese home islands. Throughout the month of July, the Alabama screened while the carriers carried out strikes on targets in the industrial areas of Tokyo
and other areas of Honshū
, Hokkaidō
, and Kyūshū. On the night of 17–18 July, the Alabama, and several other fast battleships in the task group, carried out a night bombardment
of six major industrial plants in the Hitachi-Mito area of Honshū, about 8 mi (12.9 km) northeast of Tokyo. Onboard the USS Alabama to observe the operation was the retired Rear Admiral Richard Byrd
, the famed polar explorer.
On 9 August, the Alabama transferred a medical party to the , for further transfer to the . The latter had been struck by a kamikaze
plane on that date and required prompt medical aid at her distant warning radar picket station.
According to data found at the USS Alabama Monument in Mobile, Alabama, this battleship fired over 1,250 16 in (406.4 mm) shells on the enemy during supporting bombardments, shot down 22 enemy aircraft and never incurred any damage due to enemy action. The Alabama suffered only five casualties during the war, the result of one of the ship's guns accidentally firing on one of the ship's other guns. She did not lose a single man due to enemy action, thus earning it the nickname the "Lucky A".
The Alabama entered Tokyo Bay
on 5 September to embark some men who had served with the occupation forces, and then departed from Japanese waters on 20 September. At Okinawa, she embarked 700 sailors, principally members of Navy construction battalions (or "Seabee
s"), as a part of her mission in Operation Magic Carpet to return American servicemen home as soon as possible. The Alabama reached San Francisco around mid-day on 15 October, and on 27 October, she hosted 9,000 civilian visitors. She next steamed to the port of San Pedro, California, on 29 October. The USS Alabama remained at San Pedro through 27 February 1946, when she left for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an end-of-war deactivation overhaul. The Alabama accumulated nine U.S. Navy battle stars for her World War II service.
Alabama was decommissioned on 9 January 1947, at the Naval Station at Seattle, Washington
, and from there sent to the Bremerton Group of the United States Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained at Bremerton until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
on 1 June 1962.
to the men and women who served in World War II
. (Nearly $100,000 was raised by Alabama schoolchildren, mostly in the form of small change and a corporate fundraising effort completed the nearly $1 million donation.) The ship was awarded to that state on 16 June 1964, and was formally turned over on 7 July 1964 in ceremonies at Seattle. Alabama was then towed to her permanent berth at Battleship Memorial Park
, Mobile, Alabama
, arriving in Mobile Bay
on 14 September 1964 and opening as a museum ship on 9 January 1965. She was joined in 1969 by the Gato-class submarine USS Drum
which was moored behind Alabama until it was damaged in Hurricane Georges
, resulting in its move to an onshore display.
The ship was declared a National Historic Landmark
in 1986.
Visitors are allowed to view the inside of the main gun turrets and anti-aircraft guns. The powder magazine was opened to the public through some holes that were cut, and stairs put in. The bunk of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller
is marked for those touring. Feller served on Alabama for several years during World War II, serving as Gun Captain by the end of the conflict.
In recent years, Alabama has been occasionally used as a hurricane shelter. During Hurricane Katrina
, Alabama suffered damage which resulted in an eight-degree list to port, and shifting at her permanent anchorage. (The families of 18 museum employees were aboard during Katrina.) In addition, the Aircraft Pavilion was severely damaged, with three of the exhibited aircraft destroyed. At the end of 2005, damage estimates were in excess of four million dollars. The park reopened 9 January 2006, with the ship having a three-degree list (which was still being corrected). The battleship, submarine, and Aircraft Pavilion are all open.
.
The ship was used as a stand in for the USS Iowa
in the ABC miniseries War and Remembrance
. The number 60 is clearly visible during one of the scenes.
The opening scene of the David A. Prior action movie Rapid Fire (1989) was filmed aboard the Alabama.
South Dakota class battleship (1939)
The South Dakota-class was a group of four fast battleships built by the United States Navy. They were the second class of battleships to be named after the 40th State; the first class was designed in the 1920s and canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The class comprised four...
, was the sixth completed ship of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
named for the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, however she was only the third commissioned ship with that name. Alabama was commissioned in 1942 and served in World War II in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. She was decommissioned in 1947 and assigned to the reserve duty. She was retired in 1962. In 1964, Alabama was taken to Mobile Bay and opened as a museum ship the following year. The ship was added to the National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
registry in 1986.
Construction and Commissioning
Alabama was laid down on 1 February 1940 by the Norfolk Navy Yard, launched on 16 February 1942, and sponsored by Henrietta McCormick Hill, wife of J. Lister HillJ. Lister Hill
Joseph Lister Hill was a Democratic U.S. Senator from the state of Alabama. He was elected to fill the term left by the resignation of Dixie Bibb Graves and was reelected five times, serving in the Senate from January 11, 1938 until January 3, 1969...
, the senior Senator from Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox
Frank Knox
-External links:...
, spoke at the launching ceremony: "As Alabama slides down the ways today, she carries with her a great name and a great tradition. We cannot doubt that before many months have passed she will have had her first taste of battle. The Navy welcomes her as a new queen among her peers. In the future, as in the past, may the name Alabama ever stand for fighting spirit and devotion to a cause." Alabama was commissioned on 16 August 1942, with Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
George B. Wilson in command.
1943
After fitting out, USS Alabama commenced her shakedown cruise in Chesapeake BayChesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
on 11 November 1942. As the year 1943 began, the new battleship headed north to conduct operational training out of Casco Bay
Casco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. She returned to Chesapeake Bay on 11 January to carry out the last week of shakedown training. Following a period of availability and logistics support at Norfolk, Alabama was assigned to Task Group 22.2 (TG 22.2), and returned to Casco Bay for tactical maneuvers on 13 February 1943.
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
lacked the heavy ships necessary to cover the northern convoy routes. The British appeal for help on those lines soon led to the temporary assignment of Alabama and to the Home Fleet.
On 2 April 1943, Alabama, as part of Task Force 22 (TF 22), sailed for the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
with her sister ship and a screen of five destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s. Proceeding via Little Placentia Sound
Little Placentia Sound
Little Placentia Sound is a small natural bay located within Placentia Bay on the Avalon Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador....
and Naval Station Argentia
Naval Station Argentia
Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941-1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province .-Construction:Established under the British-U.S...
, Newfoundland
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
, the battleship reached Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
on 19 May, reporting for duty with Task Force 61 and becoming a unit of the British Home Fleet. She soon embarked on a period of intensive operational training to coordinate joint operations
Joint warfare
Joint warfare is a military doctrine which places priority on the integration of the various service branches of a state's armed forces into one unified command...
.
Early in June, Alabama and her sister ship, along with British Home Fleet units, covered the reinforcement of the garrison on the island of Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
, which lay on the northern flank of the convoy route to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, in an operation that took the ship across the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
. Soon after her return to Scapa Flow, she was inspected by Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Harold R. Stark, Commander, United States Naval Forces, Europe.
Shortly thereafter, in July, Alabama participated in "Operation Governor", a diversion aimed toward southern Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, which was an attempt to draw the German military's attention away from the real Allied target, the Italian island of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. This operation had also been carried out in an attempt to lure the out of her northern Norwegian seaport and into battle, but the German Navy
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
(Kriegsmarine) did not rise to this challenge. The Tirpitz remained in her port in a northern Norwegian fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
.
The Alabama was detached from the British Home Fleet on 1 August 1943, and, in company with the USS South Dakota and their screening destroyers, steamed for Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, arriving there on 9 August. For the next ten days, Alabama underwent a period of overhaul, repair, and shore leave for the sailors. This work completed, Alabama departed from Norfolk on 20 August, bound for the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. She transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
five days later, and then steamed across the Pacific. She reached her assigned destination of Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, the New Hebrides Islands, in the southwestern Pacific, on 14 September.
Following a month and a half of exercises and training with fast carrier
Fast Carrier Task Force
The Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II.The Fast Carrier Task Force was known under two designations. The Navy made use of two sets of upper command structures for planning the upcoming operations...
task groups, Alabama steamed to the Fiji Islands, arriving on 7 November. Alabama steamed out of port on 11 November to take part in Operation Galvanic, the assault on the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
. The battleship screened the fast carriers, for defense against surface and air attacks, while they launched air attacks on Jaluit and Milli Atolls
Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll is a coral atoll of 92 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is located approximately southeast of Arno Its total land area is making it the second largest of the Marshall Islands after Kwajalein. It encloses a...
, in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, attempting to neutralize Japanese airfields located there, within range of the Gilberts. Alabama supported the U.S. Marine landings on the main island Betio
Betio
Betio is an island and a town at the extreme southwest of South Tarawa in Kiribati. The main port of Tarawa Atoll is located there.-Overview:...
of the Tarawa Atoll
Tarawa Atoll
Tarawa is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, previously the capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It is the location of the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, South Tarawa...
on 20 November, and soon afterwards, she supported the U.S. Army landing on Makin Atoll
Makin (islands)
Makin is the name of a chain of islands located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati, specifically in the Gilbert Islands.-Geography:...
. During the night of 26 November, Alabama twice opened up antiaircraft fire to drive off Japanese aircraft that approached her task group.
On 8 December, Alabama along with five other fast battleships, bombarded Nauru Island, an enemy phosphate-producing center, causing severe damage to shore installations there. Firing some 535 large caliber rounds in the bombardment, she also took the destroyer alongside, after that warship had received a direct hit from a Japanese shore battery on Nauru. The Alabama took aboard three wounded sailors for treatment by the battleship's doctors – since the smaller warships did not have doctors.
Alabama next escorted the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s and the back to the port of Efate, arriving on 12 December. The Alabama departed from the New Hebrides on 5 January 1944 for Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. which she arrived at on 12 January. She underwent a brief stint in the large drydock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. The major need for drydock repair was the replacement of her port outboard of her four propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s. The Alabama was soon underway again to return to the combat area of the Pacific Ocean.
1944
The USS Alabama reached FunafutiFunafuti
Funafuti is an atoll that forms the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 4,492 , making it the most populated atoll in the country. It is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide, encircling a large lagoon 18 km long and 14 km wide, with a surface of...
, the Ellice Islands, on 21 January 1944, and there she rejoined the Fast Carrier Task Force
Fast Carrier Task Force
The Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II.The Fast Carrier Task Force was known under two designations. The Navy made use of two sets of upper command structures for planning the upcoming operations...
s. She was assigned to Task Group 58.2, which was centered around the carrier and light carriers. The Alabama left the Ellice Islands on 25 January to help carry out "Operation Flintlock", the wresting of selected members of the Marshall Islands, such as Kwajalein Atoll and Eniewetok Atoll
Enewetak
Enewetak Atoll is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area totals less than , surrounding a deep central lagoon, in circumference...
, from the Japanese. The Alabama, the South Dakota, and the bombarded Roi Islet
Roi-Namur
Roi-Namur is an island in the northern part of the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.Occupied by Japanese forces prior to World War II, it was the target of the U.S. 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Kwajalein, in February 1944....
on 29 January and Namur Islet
Roi-Namur
Roi-Namur is an island in the northern part of the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.Occupied by Japanese forces prior to World War II, it was the target of the U.S. 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Kwajalein, in February 1944....
on 30 January. She fired 330 rounds of 16 in (406.4 mm) shells and 1,562 rounds of 5 in (127 mm) ammunition toward Japanese targets, destroying planes, airfield facilities, blockhouses, other buildings, and artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
emplacements. Over the following days of this campaign, Alabama patrolled the area north of Kwajalein. On 12 February, Alabama sortied out with the aircraft carrier Bunker Hills Task Group, and many other members of the Fast Carrier Task Force to launch very major carrier air attacks on the Japanese installations, aircraft, and shipping at the major Japanese Central Pacific base of Truk Atoll. This large series of air attacks, flown on 16 and 17 February, caused heavy damage to all of the Japanese airfields, and other installations, and the enemy shipping that had remained there. Very little of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
fleet, which had used Truk as a major forward base for years remained there, since it had already departed northwards to safer waters.
Upon leaving the vicinity of Truk, the USS Alabama began steaming toward the large islands and Japanese air bases of the Marianas
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
to screen the aircraft carriers in heavy air raids on the islands of Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
, Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
. During these air attacks on the Marianas, the Alabama, while fighting against Japanese air attacks on the 21st of February, her 5 in (127 mm), 38 calibre, dual-purpose gun mount number nine accidentally fired into gun mount number five. Five sailors died, and 11 more were wounded in the mishap. The twenty 5-inch dual-purpose guns of the Alabama were her major, long-range, radar-directed antiaircraft guns, as well as forming her secondary armament for ship-to-ship combat and shore bombardments.
After the carrier air strikes were completed on 22 February 1944, the Alabama conducted a sweep of the ocean southeast of Saipan, looking for damaged enemy ships, and finding none, she then returned to Majuro Atoll on 26 February. There she served temporarily as the flagship for Vice Admiral
Vice admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, and the United States Maritime Service, vice admiral is a three-star flag officer, with the pay grade of...
Marc Mitscher
Marc Mitscher
Admiral Marc Andrew "Pete" Mitscher was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific in the latter half of World War II.-Early life and career:...
, the Commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force, called Task Force 58 at that time, from the third to the eighth of March.
The battleship's next mission was to screen the fast carriers while they projected air strikes against Japanese positions on the islands of Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
, Yap
Yap
Yap, also known as Wa'ab by locals, is an island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Yap's indigenous cultures and traditions are still strong compared to other neighboring islands. The island of Yap actually consists of four...
, Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, and Woleai
Woleai
Woleai is a coral atoll of twenty-two islands in the eastern Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia and is located approximately west-northwest of Ifalik and northeast of Eauripik...
, in the Caroline Islands
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
. She steamed out from Majuro on 22 March with Task Force 58, in the screen of the carrier . On the night of 29 March, about six enemy warplanes approached Task Group 58.3, with which the Alabama was operating, and four planes broke off to attack ships in the vicinity of the battleship. The Alabama helped in shooting down some of these aircraft and driving the rest away.
On 30 March, planes from Task Force 58 began bombing Japanese airfields, shipping, fleet servicing facilities, and other installations on the islands of Palau, Yap, Ulithi and Woleai. During that day, the Alabama again provided antiaircraft fire whenever enemy planes appeared. At 2044 hours on the 30th, a single plane approached Task Group 58.3, but the Alabama and other ships drove it off.
The Alabama next returned briefly to Majuro, before she steamed out on 13 April with Task Force 58, this time in the screen of the carrier . During the next three weeks, Task Force 58 hit enemy targets on Hollandia, currently known as Jayapura
Jayapura
Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....
, Wakde
Wakde
Wakde is an island of Indonesia, part of the province of West Papua, between the districts of Pantai Timur and Tor Atas.Occupied by Japanese forces in April 1942, Wakde served as an airbase...
, Sawar, and Sarmi
Sarmi
Count Ferdinando Sarmi was the head of the Sarmi fashion design house in New York City.-Early years:Ferdinando Sarmi was born into a wealthy Italian family. He expressed interest in fashion as a youth but was discouraged from pursuing a design career by his father...
along the northern coast of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. She next covered U.S. Army landings at Aitape
Aitape
Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals...
, Tanahmerah Bay
Tanahmerah Bay
Tanahmerah Bay, or Tanah Merah Bay, is a bay on the north coast of New Guinea, in the Indonesian province of Papua, about 50 km northwest of the provincial capital of Jayapura ....
, and Humboldt Bay
Teluk Yos Sudarso
Yos Sudarso Bay also known earlier as Humboldt Bay is a small bay in Indonesia. It is on the north coast of New Guinea, about 50 kilometers west of the border between Indonesia's province of Papua and the country of Papua New Guinea...
on New Guines, and then escorted further aircraft carrier raids on Truk Atoll.
As part of the preliminaries of the invasion of the Marianas, the Alabama, in a battle line with five other fast battleships, shelled the large island of Ponape
Pohnpei
Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...
, in the Caroline Islands, which was the site of major Japanese airfields and a seaplane base. As the Alabama Captain, Fred T. Kirtland, later noted, this bombardment, of 70 minutes' duration, was conducted in a "leisurely manner". The Alabama then returned to Majuro Atoll on 4 May 1944 to prepare for the Marine Corps and Army troops' invasion of the Marianas.
After a month spent in exercises and refitting, the Alabama again got under way as a part of Task Force 58 to participate in "Operation Forager", the invasion of the Marianas Islands and the recapture of Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
from Japanese occupation. On 12 June, the Alabama screened the aircraft carriers as they made air strikes on Saipan. On 13 June, the Alabama took part in the six-hour-long pre-invasion bombardment of the western coast of Saipan, aimed at softening up the ground defenses, and also to cover the Navy minesweeping operations off the shore of the island. The Alabamas spotting planes reported that her salvoes had caused great destruction and fires in Garapan
Garapan
Garapan is the largest village and the center of the tourism industry on the island of Saipan, which is a part of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands ....
town. Though the shelling appeared to be successful, it was later found to be a relative failure due to the lack of the specialized training and experience of warships gun crews that are really required for successful shore bombardments. The Alabama had spent many months in the Pacific screening aircraft carrier Task Groups, and thus concentrating the efforts of her sailors on antiaircraft firings to defend the carrier task groups against Japanese air attacks.
Additional air strikes and shore bombardments of Saipan by the fleet continued, and two Marine divisions landed on the heavily-defended island on 15 June. These were later reinforced by an Army division.
On 19 June 1944, during the last major carrier air battle of the War in the Pacific
War In The Pacific
War in the Pacific is a 2004 two-player turn-based computer war game published by Matrix games. It is a very large, complex, and detailed simulation of the Pacific Theatre of World War II, at both the operational and strategic level....
, the Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
, the USS Alabama, operating with Task Group 58.7, provided the first confirmed radar warning to Task Force 58 of the incoming Japanese attackers. The Japanese aircraft were initially detected by shipboard radars at a distance of about 190 miles, but that detection was thought to be a radar anomaly. The USS Alabama formally reported its radar's detection of the attack at the distance of about 140 miles, and the USS Iowa confirmed this radar report soon afterwards.
Beginning at 1046 hours, and continuing over the course of the next five hours, the Japanese flung repeated air strikes against the Fast Carrier Task Force under the command of Vice Admiral Mitscher. These totaled seven attacking groups in all on that day. Three of these Japanese attacks were aimed at Task Group 58.7, and two of them caused the Alabama to open up with antiaircraft fire.
In the first instance, only two planes managed to evade the defending Navy fighter planes to attack the Task Group's ships. The only casualties were on board the battleship USS South Dakota, which suffered from one aerial bomb hit that killed one officer and 20 enlisted men; and also wounded an additional 23 sailors. One hour later, a second wave, that was composed mostly of torpedo planes
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
, bore in on an attack, but the Alabamas antiaircraft barrage helped repel two Japanese planes from attacking the already-struck USS South Dakota. The intense concentration paid to the group of incoming torpedo planes left one Japanese dive bomber nearly undetected, and it dropped its bombload close to the Alabama. The two small aerial bombs were near-misses, but caused no damage to the battleship.
What the U.S. Navy fighter pilots soon came to call the "Marianas Turkey Shoot", with nearly 400 Japanese airplanes shot down, plus the sinking of three Japanese aircraft carriers, practically finished off all Japanese naval air power. The Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
was never again able to accumulate enough trained pilots and naval warplanes to engage in a serious air attack against the American Navy and its allies. Practically no more conventional air attacks were ever made against these ships, with the Japanese Navy and its Army Air Force resorting to determined kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
attacks for the remainder of the War in the Pacific.
The USS Alabama had had a hand in this, as the Commander of Task Group 58.7 (the fast battleship fleet of the U.S. navy, Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...
Willis A. Lee
Willis A. Lee
Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee, Jr. was a Vice Admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. Lee commanded the American ships during the second night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and turned back a Japanese invasion force headed for the island...
, recognized in his TBS (low-frequency voice radio) message to the ships of his Task Group at 1247 hours: "In the matter of reporting initial bogies, to IOWA well done, to ALABAMA very well done." The Alabamas radar early warning had allowed the aircraft carriers to scramble huge numbers of their fighters, which intercepted the inbound Japanese warplanes "at a considerable distance" from Task Force 58 – farther than would have been possible, otherwise.
The USS Alabama continued patrolling areas around the Marianas to protect the American landing forces on Saipan, screening the east carriers as they struck enemy shipping, aircraft, and shore installations on Guam, Tinian, Rota
Rota (island)
Rota also known as the "peaceful island", is the southernmost island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the second southernmost of the Marianas Archipelago. It lies approximately 40 miles north-northeast of the United States territory of Guam...
, and Saipan. She then retired to the Marshall Islands for upkeep.
The Alabama, as flagship for Rear Admiral
Rear admiral (United States)
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...
E. W. Hanson, Commander, Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9), left Eniwetok on 14 July, sailing with the task group formed around Bunker Hill. She screened the fast carriers as they conducted preinvasion attacks and support of the landings on the island of Guam on 21 July. She returned briefly to Eniwetok on 11 August. On 30 August, she got underway in the screen of Essex to carry out Operation Stalemate II the seizure of Palau, Ulithi, and Yap. From 6–8 September, the forces launched strikes on the Carolinas.
The Alabama departed from the Carolines to steam to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and provided cover for the carriers striking the islands of Cebu Island
Cebu Island
Cebu is an island of the Philippines. It is the main island of Cebu Province at the center of the Visayan Islands, south of Manila.It lies to the east of Negros Island; to the east is Leyte and to the southeast is Bohol Island. It is flanked on both sides by the Cebu Strait and Tañon Strait...
, Leyte
Leyte Island
Leyte is an island in the Visayas group of the Philippines.The island measures about 180 km north-south and about 65 km at its widest point. In the north it nearly joins Samar, separated by the San Juanico Strait, which becomes as narrow as 2 km in some places...
, Bohol
Bohol Island
Bohol Island is the main island of Bohol Province in the Visayas. It lies southeast from Cebu Island across Cebu Strait and southwest from Leyte Island, separated by the Camotes Sea and Canigao Channel...
and Negros from 12–14 September. The carriers launched strikes on shipping and installations in the Manila Bay
Manila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...
area on 21–22 September, and in the central Philippines area on 24 September. Alabama retired briefly to Saipan on 28 September, then proceeded to Ulithi on 1 October.
On 6 October, the Alabama sailed with TF 38 to support the liberation of the Philippines. Again operating as part of a fast carrier Task Group, the Alabama protected the flattops while they launched strikes on Japanese facilities at Okinawa, in the Penghu archipelago and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Detached from the Formosa area on 14 October to sail toward Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, the USS Alabama again used her anti-aircraft batteries in support of the carriers as enemy aircraft attempted to attack the formation. Alabamas gunners claimed three enemy aircraft shot down and a fourth damaged. By 15 October, Alabama was supporting landing operations on Leyte. She then screened the carriers as they conducted air strikes on Cebu, Negros, Panay
Panay Island
Panay is an island in the Philippines located in the western part of the Visayas. Politically, it is divided into five provinces: Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo, all in the Western Visayas Region. It is located southeast of the island of Mindoro and northwest of Negros, separated by the...
, northern Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, and Leyte on 21 October.
The Alabama, as a part of the carrier USS Enterprises screen, supported air operations against the Japanese Southern Force in the area off Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait is a body of water in the Philippines located between the islands of Mindanao and Leyte. This strait connects the Bohol Sea with Leyte Gulf and is regularly crossed by ferries that transport goods and people between Visayas and Mindanao...
then moved north to strike the powerful Japanese Central Force heading for San Bernardino Strait
San Bernardino Strait
The San Bernardino Strait is a strait in the Philippines. It separates the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon island from the island of Samar in the south.-Filipinos and San Bernardino Strait:...
. After receiving reports of a third Japanese force, the battleship served in the screen of the fast carrier task force as it sped to Cape Engaño. On 24 October, although American air strikes destroyed four Japanese carriers in the Battle off Cape Engaño, the Japanese Central Force under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita
Takeo Kurita
Vice Admiral was a vice-admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.-Early life:Kurita was born in Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture in 1889. He was sent off to Etajima in 1905 and graduated from the 38th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1910, ranked 28th out of a class of...
had transited San Bernardino Strait and emerged off the coast of Samar, where it fell upon a task group of American escort carriers and their destroyer and destroyer escort screen. Alabama reversed her course and headed for Samar to assist the greatly outnumbered American forces, but the Japanese had retreated by the time she reached the scene. She then joined the protective screen for Essex task group to hit enemy forces in the central Philippines before retiring to Ulithi on 30 October for replenishment.
Underway again on 3 November, the Alabama screened the fast carriers as they carried out sustained strikes against Japanese airfields, and installations on Luzon to prepare for a landing on Mindoro Island. She spent the next few weeks engaged in operations against the Visayas
Visayas
The Visayas or Visayan Islands and locally known as Kabisay-an gid, is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Mindanao and Luzon. It consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are considered the northeast...
and Luzon before retiring to Ulithi on 24 November.
The first half of December found the Alabama engaged in various training exercises and maintenance routines. She left Ulithi on 10 December, and reached the launching point for air strikes on Luzon on 14 December, as the fast carrier task forces launched aircraft to carry out preliminary strikes on airfields on Luzon that could threaten the landings slated to take place on Mindoro. From 14–16 December, a veritable umbrella of carrier aircraft covered the Luzon fields, preventing any enemy planes from getting airborne to challenge the Mindoro-bound convoys. Having completed her mission, she left the area to refuel on 17 December, but as she reached the fueling rendezvous, began encountering heavy weather. By daybreak on the 18th, rough seas and harrowing conditions rendered a fueling at sea impossible; 50 kn (60.9 mph; 98 km/h) winds caused ships to roll heavily. Alabama experienced rolls of 30°, had both her OS2U Kingfisher
OS2U Kingfisher
The Vought OS2U Kingfisher was an American catapult-launched observation floatplane. It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest, because of its light engine...
floatplane
Floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...
s so badly damaged that they were of no further value, and received minor damage to her structure. At one point in the typhoon, the Alabama recorded wind gusts up to 83 kn (101.1 mph; 162.7 km/h). Three destroyers, , , and , were lost to the typhoon. By 19 December, the storm had run its course, and Alabama arrived back at Ulithi on 24 December. After pausing there briefly, Alabama continued on to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington...
for overhaul.
1945
The USS Alabama entered a drydock on 18 January 1945, and she remained there until 25 February. Shipyard work continued until 17 March, when the Alabama got underway for standardization trials and refresher training along the southern CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
coast. She got underway for Pearl Harbor on 4 April, arrived there on 10 April, and held a week of training exercises. She then continued on to Ulithi and moored there on 28 April.
The Alabama departed from Ulithi with TF 58 on 9 May, bound for the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
, to support forces which had landed on Okinawa on 1 April, and to protect the fast carriers as they launched air strikes on installations in the Ryukyus and on Kyūshū
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
. On 14 May, several Japanese planes penetrated the combat air patrol to get at the carriers; one crashed into Admiral Mitscher's flagship. Alabamas guns splashed two, and assisted in splashing two more.
Later on, the Alabama rode out a typhoon on 4–5 June, suffering only superficial damage, while lost her bow. Alabama subsequently bombarded the Japanese island of Minami Daito Shima, with other fast battleships on 10 June and then headed for Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...
later in June to prepare to strike at the heart of Japan with the 3rd Fleet.
On 1 July, the Alabama and other Third Fleet warships got underway for the Japanese home islands. Throughout the month of July, the Alabama screened while the carriers carried out strikes on targets in the industrial areas of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and other areas of Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
, and Kyūshū. On the night of 17–18 July, the Alabama, and several other fast battleships in the task group, carried out a night bombardment
Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II
During the last weeks of World War II, warships of the United States Navy, Britain's Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy bombarded several cities and industrial facilities in Japan. These bombardments caused heavy damage to several of the factories targeted, as well as nearby civilian areas...
of six major industrial plants in the Hitachi-Mito area of Honshū, about 8 mi (12.9 km) northeast of Tokyo. Onboard the USS Alabama to observe the operation was the retired Rear Admiral Richard Byrd
Richard Byrd
Richard Byrd is the name of:*Richard C. Byrd , American politician*Richard Evelyn Byrd , admiral, polar explorer, aviator*Richard Byrd , American Olympic athlete...
, the famed polar explorer.
On 9 August, the Alabama transferred a medical party to the , for further transfer to the . The latter had been struck by a kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
plane on that date and required prompt medical aid at her distant warning radar picket station.
According to data found at the USS Alabama Monument in Mobile, Alabama, this battleship fired over 1,250 16 in (406.4 mm) shells on the enemy during supporting bombardments, shot down 22 enemy aircraft and never incurred any damage due to enemy action. The Alabama suffered only five casualties during the war, the result of one of the ship's guns accidentally firing on one of the ship's other guns. She did not lose a single man due to enemy action, thus earning it the nickname the "Lucky A".
Post-War
The end of the war found the Alabama still at sea, operating off the southern coast of Honshū. On 15 August 1945, she received word of the Japanese capitulation. During the initial occupation of the Yokosuka-Tokyo area, Alabama transferred detachments of U.S. Marines and sailors for temporary duty ashore. Her sailors were among the first men from the U.S. fleet to land. She also served in the screen of the aircraft carriers as they conducted reconnaissance flights to locate prisoner-of-war camps.The Alabama entered Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
on 5 September to embark some men who had served with the occupation forces, and then departed from Japanese waters on 20 September. At Okinawa, she embarked 700 sailors, principally members of Navy construction battalions (or "Seabee
Seabee
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, of the United States Navy...
s"), as a part of her mission in Operation Magic Carpet to return American servicemen home as soon as possible. The Alabama reached San Francisco around mid-day on 15 October, and on 27 October, she hosted 9,000 civilian visitors. She next steamed to the port of San Pedro, California, on 29 October. The USS Alabama remained at San Pedro through 27 February 1946, when she left for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an end-of-war deactivation overhaul. The Alabama accumulated nine U.S. Navy battle stars for her World War II service.
Alabama was decommissioned on 9 January 1947, at the Naval Station at Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, and from there sent to the Bremerton Group of the United States Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained at Bremerton until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 1 June 1962.
Museum ship
Citizens of the state of Alabama had formed the "USS Alabama Battleship Commission" to raise funds for the preservation of Alabama as a memorialMuseum ship
A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
to the men and women who served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. (Nearly $100,000 was raised by Alabama schoolchildren, mostly in the form of small change and a corporate fundraising effort completed the nearly $1 million donation.) The ship was awarded to that state on 16 June 1964, and was formally turned over on 7 July 1964 in ceremonies at Seattle. Alabama was then towed to her permanent berth at Battleship Memorial Park
Battleship Memorial Park
Battleship Memorial Park is a military history park and museum located on the western shore of Mobile Bay in Mobile, Alabama. It has a collection of notable aircraft and museum ships including the South Dakota-class battleship USS Alabama and Gato-class submarine USS Drum...
, Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, arriving in Mobile Bay
Mobile Bay
Mobile Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The Mobile River and Tensaw River empty into the northern end of the...
on 14 September 1964 and opening as a museum ship on 9 January 1965. She was joined in 1969 by the Gato-class submarine USS Drum
USS Drum (SS-228)
USS Drum is a Gato-class submarine of the United States Navy, the first Navy ship named after the drum, any of various types of fish capable of making a drumming sound. Drum is presently on display as a museum ship in Mobile, Alabama, at Battleship Memorial Park.Drum was laid down on 11 September...
which was moored behind Alabama until it was damaged in Hurricane Georges
Hurricane Georges
Hurricane Georges was a very destructive, powerful and long-lived Cape Verde-type Category 4 hurricane. Georges was the seventh tropical storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season...
, resulting in its move to an onshore display.
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1986.
Visitors are allowed to view the inside of the main gun turrets and anti-aircraft guns. The powder magazine was opened to the public through some holes that were cut, and stairs put in. The bunk of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller
Bob Feller
On December 8, 1941, Feller enlisted in the Navy, volunteering immediately for combat service, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to do so following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Feller served as Gun Captain aboard the USS Alabama, and missed four seasons during his service...
is marked for those touring. Feller served on Alabama for several years during World War II, serving as Gun Captain by the end of the conflict.
In recent years, Alabama has been occasionally used as a hurricane shelter. During Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, Alabama suffered damage which resulted in an eight-degree list to port, and shifting at her permanent anchorage. (The families of 18 museum employees were aboard during Katrina.) In addition, the Aircraft Pavilion was severely damaged, with three of the exhibited aircraft destroyed. At the end of 2005, damage estimates were in excess of four million dollars. The park reopened 9 January 2006, with the ship having a three-degree list (which was still being corrected). The battleship, submarine, and Aircraft Pavilion are all open.
Film appearance
Although the action was putatively occurring aboard , and that ship was shown in some of the footage, Alabama was actually utilized for most of the battleship scenes in the 1992 film Under SiegeUnder Siege
Under Siege is a 1992 American action film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey, on a U.S. Navy battleship...
.
The ship was used as a stand in for the USS Iowa
USS Iowa (BB-61)
USS Iowa was the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 29th state...
in the ABC miniseries War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance (mini-series)
War and Remembrance is an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. It is the sequel to highly successful The Winds of War...
. The number 60 is clearly visible during one of the scenes.
The opening scene of the David A. Prior action movie Rapid Fire (1989) was filmed aboard the Alabama.
External links
- USS Alabama (BB-60) on NavSource.org
- USS Alabama (BB-60) on Hazegray.org
- USS Alabama web site
- HNSA Web Page: USS Alabama
- USS Alabama BB-60 photo gallery on MariTimeQuest.com
- National Historic Landmark nomination file on the USS Alabama
- "To Alabama, Very Well Done" concerning June 1944 actions in the Pacific