Located in Mobile
Bay, the ship was brought to Mobile in 1964 as a tourist attraction and
memorial for veterans in Alabama. The Alabama is a South Dakota class
Battleship that was completed in 1942 for use in WWII. The "Mighty A"
saw plenty of action against the Japanese in the south Pacific and is
credited with shooting down 23 Japanese aircraft. Somehow, the Alabama
and her crew managed to make it out of WWII without casualties or
damage from enemy fire. The only deaths on board the ship were 8 people
in a 5" gun mount (mount #5) that were killed by friendly fire from
another gun turret (mount #9) on the ship. A safety feature that
prevented the turrets from firing if they were pointed at another
turret or part of the ship failed. Mount 9 fired a round into mount 5
which exploded and killed everyone inside. All that remained of the gun
commander was his boots. There we re little fragments of bone and flesh
plastered on the walls inside the turret where the men were vaporized
by the exploding shell. There were also two other deaths while the ship
was under construction at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. A former worker
reports that they had to stay on the ship overnight alone quite a bit,
so they got their share of scares. Their first encounter was in the
Marine Compartment where the Marines slept. Footsteps were heard
approaching from around the corner when there was nobody on board. All
around the ship, strange footsteps and voices were heard. Heavy solid
steel watertight hatches on the superstructure would slam shut with a
loud thud for reasons that could not be explained. Late at night when
the whole ship was very quiet, the bulkheads would seemingly come alive
with popping and tapping, and at times it was concentrated in one area.
Needless to say, the Mighty A was very much alive.
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