Thursday, June, Aunt Mickey and I were picked up by Randy and Juanita around 8:30AM and shuttled off to visit The Alabama in Mobile, Al a bit over an hour away. It was nice to have a chauffer.
We first toured the Submarine USS Drum. The Drum is the oldest WWII sub on public display. It served in WWII and sank a total of 15 enemy vessels, it was lethal.
Submarines are not for the claustrophobic, I just can't imagine being in one of these cigar tubes for 75 days at a time. These bunks are 6ft long, ok for me..
They have done a good job turning the sub into a museum that depicts life as it was back during the war.
June took command.
This is the business end of the sub.
After the Drum, we moved onto the main attraction, the USS Alabama.
The Alabama was only in commission for a bit over 3 years (1942-1945), but it saw serious action during WWII and lead the American fleet into Tokyo Bay in September of 1945.
It is hard to get your head around how massive and complicated these war machines really are and then think about it being 80+ years old. It was home to 2500 men, a city in itself. It is 680ft long, 108ft wide and 194ft tall, it is huge. It had over 100 guns on board including nine 16 inch guns that would launch 2600 pound shells over 20 miles with accuracy. There is a reason it is called a Destroyer.
The guns are everywhere and impressive.
Since it had a 15,000 nautical mile range, it could go anywhere on the globe and carried with it everything it needed to operate. This is the machine shop, it also had a print shop, hospital, dentistry, barber shop, movie theater, church, etc....it was its own city.
I found one of the most interesting things is how they moved 2600# shells from the basement of this ship, up to the guns above the deck, it was a mechanical marvel. This is the shell magazine which is a round room that rotated the shells to an elevator that moved them up and into the guns. We had some smart people designing these machines.
This is the elevator. The mechanism that loaded the shell from the elevator to the guns was equally impressive, but I did not get a decent picture of that.
The memorial also has many static displays of military equipment, including a good representation of tanks. This is the M1 Abrams which is in service today with US Military. These tanks went into service in 1980, we are due for a refresh, but if you follow this, there is lots of differing opinions on the future of tanks in combat.
There is also a B52 Stratofortress on display, when you stand next to one, you realize how big they really are.
I also found a plane I had been looking for, the Grumman HU-16 Albatross. My friend, Ted Lattrell was a Coast Guard Navigator on one of these planes. I have heard many of the stories, I wanted to see one. It is a flying boat.
We were all hungry when we left the memorial and stopped at a restaurant that Debbie had recommended, Felix's Fish Camp Grill Restaurant. It was a cool place with good food. Really, it was fancy inside with excellent service.
We returned to Pensacola and after Debbie got home from work, the seven of us went to dinner at the Sunset Grille. It was a good day. I forgot to get a group picture.
Friday, will be a day of rest. James and I have a tee time.... :-).
Another unforgettable museum and the tour of the sub and battleship was impressive. Great dinner with family to end the day.
ReplyDelete