02/02/10 The tour of the Battle Ship, USS Alabama The ship was commissioned on August 16, 1942 and is l680 feet in length, with a beam of 108 feet, 2 inches. She is registered at 35,000 tons but under battle conditions, she weighed in at well over 45,000 tons. Her assigned crew was 127 officers and 2,205 enlisted but she normally had a crew of 2,500 men aboard. She earned 9 battle stars and shot down 22 military planes during WWII. As with any battleship she was a self-contained city. Bob got to tour with a Navy retired person who served aboard the USS Alabama. The gentleman had thorough knowledge of the battleship, especially the guns. There were 3 turrets with 16 inch guns (45 cal.). These guns fired 24,300 lbs. every 30 seconds up to 21 miles. The gentleman indicated that no matter who you were, this was an impressive sight to witness. Big and tall people would have a hard time living aboard ship. The bunks were small and the individual space on board was very limited. One fact that Bob did not know was that seamen had to wear fresh clean uniforms when they went into battle. The reason for this was to limit infection if someone were to be wounded in combat.
The submarine, USS Drum, was commissioned on November 1, 1941. The ship is 311 feet,, 8 inches long with a beam of 27 feet, 4 inches and displaced l,526 tons. Her crew consisted of 7 officers and 65 enlisted men. She earned 12 battle stars during WWII. Bob definitely would not have fit in the Drum.
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