Battleship Uss Alabama Bb 60

Powerful: this single word aptly describes a naval vessel known as a battleship. The USS Alabama (BB-60) was the last of four South Dakota-class battleships built for World War II. She is well armored and designed to survive an attack while continuing to fight. Her main battery, known as "Big Guns," consisted of nine 16-inch guns; each could launch a projectile weighing as much as a small car that could hit a target 21 miles away. Her crew numbered 2,332 men, none of whom were lost to enemy fire, earning her the nickname "Lucky A." She served as more than just a battleship: she carried troops, supplies, and seaplanes and served in the Pacific and Atlantic; her doctors treated patients from other ships; she was the wartime home for a major-league ballplayer; the movie setting for Hollywood films; and she traveled home to the state of Alabama with the help of schoolchildren.

The fourth and final battleship in the South Dakota class, the USS Alabama served in both the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II, participating in many of the most famous battles of the war. Armed with nine 16-inch guns, 20 5-inch guns, and a myriad of 40 mm and 20 mm weapons, Alabama was one of the most powerful warships afloat. This volume illustrates the modifications and improvements made to the ship during her service, and the battles fought by her men. The battleship today is a floating museum and veterans memorial moored in Mobile Bay in her namesake state of Alabama. Additional detailed photos capture the workings of this powerful, complex warship. Through carefully researched archival documents and photographs, the history of this iconic warship and the men who crewed it is presented in this profusely illustrated volume.

This publication covers the battleship's technical and operational history. The technical portion not only explores the exterior of the ship where the guns, radar, and other features are clearly visible but also goes deep within her hull to exam the magazines, machinery, and other equipment necessary to operate the ship and its armament.

Building upon the expertise of the authors and historians of the Naval Institute Press, the Naval History Special Editions are designed to offer studies of the key vessels, battles, and events of armed conflict. Using an image-heavy, magazine-style format, these Special Editions should appeal to scholars, enthusiasts, and general readers alike. USS Alabama (BB-60) is the fourth and final South Dakota-class battleship completed for the United States Navy. Entering service in 1942, she became one of ten new fast battleships the United States commissioned from 1941 to 1944. This volume narrates the story of Alabama's construction, design, functioning, deployments during World War II, crew experiences, commanding officers, and second life as a museum ship. During the war, her nine 16-inch/45 caliber main guns fired 1,252 rounds at enemy targets. Her secondary batteries, twenty 5-inch/38 caliber guns, were part of the most effective anti-aircraft screening actions of any navy during the war. They combined with Alabama's 40 mm and 20 mm cannons to down 22 Japanese warplanes in the central and western Pacific. Alabama earned nine battle stars for her participation in such battles as the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa. She finished the war by bombarding the Japanese Home Islands, deploying a contingent of Marines to Japan, and transporting home U.S. service members from the western Pacific. All the while, her crew adjusted to the varying demands of patrols through frigid seas above the Arctic Circle, amid the heat and humidity of equatorial latitudes, and during two deadly western Pacific typhoons. She returned to the United States to form part of the reserve fleet until the early 1960s, when "the Mighty A" was transferred to the state of Alabama to serve as the centerpiece of a memorial park on the shores of Mobile Bay.