| Alabama (BB-60) was laid down on 1 February 1940 by the
Norfolk, Virginia, Navy Yard; launched on 16 February 1942; sponsored by
Mrs. Lister Hill, wife of the senior Senator from Alabama; and commissioned
on 16 August 1942, Capt. George B. Wilson in command. |
| After fitting out, Alabama commenced her shakedown cruise
in Chesapeake Bay on Armistice Day (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 1943 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 (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 South Dakota (BB-57) to the Home Fleet. |
| On 2 April 1943, Alabama -- as part of Task Force (TF)
22 -- sailed for the Orkney Islands with her sister ship and a screen of
five destroyers. Proceeding via Little Placentia Sound, Argentia, Newfoundland,
the battleship reached Scapa Flow on 19 May 1943, reporting for duty with
TF 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 Spitzbergen, 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 to draw German attention
away from the real Allied thrust, toward Sicily. It had also been devised
to attempt to lure out the German battleship Tirpitz, the sister ship
of the famed, but short-lived, Bismarck, but the Germans didn't rise
to the challenge, and the enemy battleship remained in her Norwegian
lair. |
| Alabama was detached from the British Home Fleet on 1
August 1943, and, in company with South Dakota and screening destroyers,
sailed for Norfolk, arriving there on 9 August. For the next ten days,
Alabama underwent a period of overhaul and repairs. This work completed,
the battleship departed Norfolk on 20 August 1943 for the Pacific. Transiting
the Panama Canal five days later, she dropped anchor in Havannah Harbor,
at Efate, in the New Hebrides, on 14 September. |
| Following a month and a half of exercises and training, with
fast carrier task groups, the battleship moved to Fiji on 7 November.
Alabama sailed on 11 November to take part in Operation "Galvanic,"
the assault on the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands. She screened the fast carriers
as they launched attacks on Jaluit and Mille atolls, Marshall Islands, to
neutralize Japanese airfields located there. Alabama supported landings
on Tarawa on 20 November and later took part in the securing of Betio and
Makin. On the night of 26 November, Alabama twice opened fire to drive
off enemy aircraft that approached her formation. |
| On 8 December 1943, Alabama, along with five other fast
battleships, carried out the first Pacific gunfire strike conducted by that
type of warship. Alabama's guns hurled 535 rounds into enemy strongpoints,
as she and her sister ships bombarded Nauru Island, an enemy phosphate-producing
center, causing severe damage to shore installations there. She also took
the destroyer Boyd (DD-544), alongside after that ship had received
a direct hit from a Japanese shore battery on Nauru, and brought three injured
men on board for treatment. |
| She then escorted the carriers Bunker Hill (CV-17) and
Monterey (CVL-26) back to Efate, arriving on 12 December.
Alabama departed the New Hebrides for Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1944,
arrived on the 12th and underwent a brief dry-docking at the Pearl Harbor
Navy Yard. After replacement of her port outboard propeller, and routine
maintenance, Alabama was again underway to return to action in the
Pacific. |
| Alabama reached Funafuti, Ellice Islands, on 21 January
1944, and there rejoined the fleet. Assigned to Task Group (TG) 58.2, which
was formed around Essex (CV-9), Alabama left the Ellice Islands
on 25 January to help carry out Operation "Flintlock," the invasion of the
Marshall Islands. Alabama, along with sister ship South Dakota
and the fast battleship North Carolina (BB-55), bombarded Roi
on 29 January and Namur on 30 January; she hurled 330 rounds of 16-inch and
1,562 of 5-inch toward Japanese targets, destroying planes, airfield facilities,
blockhouses, buildings, and gun emplacements. Over the following days of
the campaign, Alabama patrolled the area north of Kwajalein Atoll.
On 12 February 1944, Alabama sortied with the Bunker Hill task
group to launch attacks on Japanese installations, aircraft and shipping
at Truk. Those raids, launched on 16 and 17 February, caused heavy damage
to enemy shipping concentrated at that island base. |
| Leaving Truk, Alabama began steaming toward the Marianas
to assist in strikes on Tinian, Saipan and Guam. During this action, while
repelling enemy air attacks on 21 February 1944, 5-inch mount number 9
accidentally fired into mount number 5. Five men died, and 11 were wounded
in the mishap. |
| After the strikes were completed on 22 February, Alabama
conducted a sweep looking for crippled enemy ships southeast of Saipan, and
eventually returned to Majuro on 26 February 1944. There she served temporarily
as flagship for Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, Commander, TF 58, from 3 to
8 March. |
| Alabama's next mission was to screen the fast carriers
as they hurled air strikes against Japanese positions on Palau, Yap, Ulithi,
and Woleai, Caroline Islands. She steamed from Majuro on 22 March 1944 with
TF 58 in the screen of Yorktown (CV-10). On the night of 29 March,
about six enemy planes approached TG 58.3, in which Alabama was operating,
and four broke off to attack ships in the vicinity of the battleship.
Alabama downed one unassisted, and helped in the destruction of
another. |
| On 30 March, planes from TF 58 began bombing Japanese airfields,
shipping, fleet servicing facilities, and other installations on the islands
of Palau, Yap, Ulithi and Woleai. During that day, Alabama again provided
antiaircraft fire whenever enemy planes appeared. At 20:45 on the 30th, a
single plane approached TG 58.3, but Alabama and other ships drove
it off before it could cause any damage. |
| The battleship returned briefly to Majuro, before she sailed
on 13 April with TF 58, this time in the screen of Enterprise (CV-6).
In the next three weeks, TF 58 hit enemy targets on Hollandia, Wakde, Sawar,
and Sarmi along the New Guinea coast; covered Army landings at Aitape, Tanahmerah
Bay, and Humboldt Bay; and conducted further strikes on Truk. |
| As part of the preliminaries to the invasion of the Marianas,
Alabama, in company with five other fast battleships shelled the large
island of Ponape, in the Carolines, the site of a Japanese airfield and seaplane
base. As Alabama's Capt. Fred T. Kirtland subsequently noted, the
bombardment, of 70 minutes' duration, was conducted in a "leisurely manner."
Alabama then returned to Majuro on 4 May 1944 to prepare for the invasion
of the Marianas. |
| After a month spent in exercises and refitting, Alabama
again got under way with TF 58 to participate in Operation "Forager." On
12 June, Alabama screened the carriers striking Saipan. On 13 June,
Alabama took part in a six-hour preinvasion bombardment of the west
coast of Saipan, to soften the defenses and cover the initial minesweeping
operations. Her spotting planes reported that her salvoes had caused great
destruction and fires in Garapan town. Though the shelling appeared successful,
it proved a failure due to the lack of specialized training and experience
required for successful shore bombardment. Strikes continued as troops invaded
Saipan on 15 June. |
| On 19 June, during the Battle of the Philippine Sea,
Alabama operated with TG 58.7, providing antiaircraft support for
the fast carriers against attacking Japanese aircraft. The ships of TF 58
claimed 27 enemy planes downed during the course of the action, which later
came to be known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot." |
| In the first raid that approached Alabama's formation,
only two planes managed to penetrate to attack her sister ship South
Dakota, scoring one bomb hit that caused minor damage. An hour later
a second wave, composed largely of torpedo bombers, bore in, but
Alabama's barrage discouraged two planes from attacking South
Dakota. The intense concentration paid to the incoming torpedo planes
left one dive bomber nearly undetected, and it managed to drop its load near
Alabama; the two small bombs were near-misses, and caused no
damage. |
| American submarines sank two Japanese carriers and Navy pilots
claimed a third carrier. American pilots and antiaircraft gunners had seriously
depleted Japanese naval air power. Out of the 430 planes with which the enemy
had commenced the Battle of the Philippine Sea, only 35 remained operational
afterward. |
| Alabama continued patrolling areas around the Marianas
to protect the American landing forces on Saipan, screening the fast carriers
as they struck enemy shipping, aircraft and shore installations on Guam,
Tinian, Rota, and Saipan. She then retired to the Marshalls for upkeep. |
| Alabama -- as flagship for Rear Admiral E. W. Hanson,
Commander, Battleship Division 9 -- left Eniwetok on 14 July 1944, 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. On 6
through 8 September, the forces launched strikes on the Carolines. |
| Alabama departed the Carolines to sail to the Philippines
and provided cover for the carriers striking the islands of Cebu, Leyte,
Bohol and Negros from 12 to 14 September. The carriers launched strikes on
shipping and installations in the Manila Bay area on 21 and 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
1944. |
| On 6 October 1944, Alabama sailed with TF 38 to support
the liberation of the Philippines. Again operating as part of a fast carrier
task group, Alabama protected the flattops while they launched strikes
on Japanese facilities at Okinawa, in the Pescadores, and Formosa. |
| Detached from the Formosa area on 14 October to sail toward Luzon,
the fast battleship again used her antiaircraft batteries in support of the
carriers as enemy aircraft attempted to attack the formation.
Alabama's 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 1944. |
| Alabama, as part of the Enterprise 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 Engano. On 24 October, although American air strikes destroyed
four Japanese carriers in the Battle off Cape Engano, the Japanese Central
Force under Admiral 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 the Essex task group
to hit enemy forces in the central Philippines before retiring to Ulithi
on 30 October 1944 for replenishment. |
| Underway again, on 3 November 1944, 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 1944 found 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 to 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-knot winds caused ships to roll heavily. Alabama
experienced rolls of 30 degrees causing minor damage to her structure and
both her Vought "Kingfisher" floatplanes were so badly damaged they were
of no further value. At one point in the typhoon, Alabama recorded
wind gusts up to 83 knots. Three destroyers, Hull (DD-350),
Monaghan (DD-354), and Spence (DD-512), 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. |
| The battleship entered dry-docks on 18 January 1945, and remained
there until 25 February. Work continued until 17 March, when Alabama
got underway for standardization trials and refresher training along the
southern California 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 1945. |
| Alabama departed Ulithi with TF 58 on 9 May 1945, bound
for the Ryukyus, to support forces, which had landed on Okinawa on 1 April
1945, and to protect the fast carriers as they launched air strikes on
installations in the Ryukyus and on Kyushu. On 14 May, several Japanese planes
penetrated the combat air patrol to get at the carriers; one crashed Vice
Admiral Mitscher's flagship. Alabama's guns splashed two, and assisted
in splashing two more. |
| Subsequently, Alabama rode out a typhoon, on 4 and 5 June,
suffering only superficial damage while the nearby heavy cruiser
Pittsburgh (CA-70) lost her bow. Alabama subsequently bombarded
the Japanese island of Minami Daito Shima, with other fast battleships, on
10 June 1945 and then headed for Leyte Gulf later in June to prepare to strike
at the heart of Japan with the 3d Fleet. |
| On 1 July 1945, Alabama and other 3d Fleet units got under-way
for the Japanese home islands. Throughout the month of July 1945,
Alabama carried out strikes on targets in industrial areas of Tokyo
and other points on Honshu, Hokkaido, and Kyushu; on the night of 17 and
18 July, Alabama, and other fast battleships in the task group, carried
out the first night bombardment of six major industrial plants in the
Hitachi-Mito area of Honshu, about eight miles northeast of Tokyo. On board,
Alabama to observe the operation was retired Rear Admiral Richard
E. Byrd, the famed polar explorer. |
| On 9 August, Alabama transferred a medical party to the
destroyer Ault (DD-698), for further transfer to the destroyer
Borie (DD-704). The latter had been kamikazied on that date and required
prompt medical aid on her distant picket station. |
| The end of the war found Alabama still at sea, operating
off the southern coast of Honshu. On 15 August 1945, she received word of
the Japanese capitulation. During the initial occupation of the Yokosuka-Tokyo
area, Alabama transferred detachments of marines and bluejackets for
temporary duty ashore; her bluejackets were among the first from the fleet
to land. She also served in the screen of the carriers as they conducted
reconnaissance flights to locate prisoner-of-war camps. |
| Alabama entered Tokyo Bay on 5 September to receive men
who had served with the occupation forces, and then departed Japanese waters
on 20 September. At Okinawa, she embarked 700 sailors -- principally members
of Navy construction battalions (or "Seabees") -- for her part in the "Magic
Carpet" operations She reached San Francisco at midday on 15 October, and
on Navy Day (27 October 1945) hosted 9,000 visitors. She then shifted to
San Pedro, California, on 29 October. Alabama remained at San Pedro
through 27 February 1946, when she left for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
for inactivation overhaul. Alabama was decommissioned on 9 January
1947, at the Naval Station, Seattle, and was assigned to the Bremerton Group,
United States Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained there until struck from
the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1962. |
| Citizens of the state of Alabama had formed the "USS
Alabama Battleship Commission" to raise funds for the preservation
of Alabama as a memorial to the men and women who served in World
War II. The ship was awarded to that state on 16 June 1964, and was formally
turned over on 7 July that year in ceremonies at Seattle. Alabama
was then towed to her permanent berth at Mobile, Alabama, arriving in Mobile
Bay on 14 September 1964. The Memorial was dedicated 9 January 1965 to the
memory of the men and women of all the armed forces from Alabama who gallantly
served their country and has since been the featrued attraction of Mobile's
100-acre Battleship Park. |
| The USS Alabama was the only Battleship built in the Norfolk
Navy Shipyard. The bell of the Alabama is in the center of the WWII
exhibit at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum. |
|
|
| 1943
1 Star/Gilbert Islands Operations -- 19 NOV-8 DEC |
| 1944
1 Star/Marshall Islands Operation
|
1 Star/Asiatic-Pacific Raids
-
Turk Attack - 16-17 FEB
-
Marianas Attack -- 21-22 FEB
-
Pala, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai Raid -- 30 MAR-1 APR
|
| 1 Star/Hollandia Operation
|
1 Star/Marianas Operation
-
Capture and Occupation of Saipan -- 11-24 JUN
-
Battle of Philippine Sea -- 19-20 JUN
-
Capture and Occupation of Guam -- 12 JUL - 15 AUG
-
Palau, Yap, Ulithi Raid -- 25-27 JUL
|
|
| 1944 cont.
1 Star/Western Carline Islands Operation
-
Raids on Volcano-Bonin Islands and Yap Islands -- 31 AUG-8 SEP
-
Capture and Occupation of Southern Palau Island -- 6 SEP-14 OCT
-
Assults on the Philippine Islands -- 9-24 SEP
|
1 Star/Leyte Operation
-
THIRD Fleete Supporting Operations Okinawa Attack -- 10 OCT
-
Northern Luzon and Formosa Attacks -- 11-14 OCT
-
Luzon Attacks -- 15, 19 OCT, 5-6, 13-14, 20-22 NOV, 14-16 DEC
-
Visayas Attacks -- 21 OCT
-
Battle of Surigao Strait -- 25-26 OCT
|
| 1945
1 Star/Okinawa Gunto Operation
|
| 1 Star/THIRD Fleet Operations against Japan -- 10 JUL-15 AUG.
|
|
|
|
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