USS Alabama 16" Guns

[Cecil S.]

This weekend moma and I walked through the USS Alabama my main goal was to get inside of the main guns after the excellent thread on 18" guns I had to see this up close. You could still smell the faint smell of burnt powder as I entered the gun. Hope yall enjoy the photos.Photos are from the upper GunProjectileHalf of the Powder charge Momma looking out the left periscope (very tight quarters)The science behind shooting 20 miles!I think this is where the trigger man sat notice the forehead pad. There where 2 horizontal lines viziable.

 

[Cecil S.]

Half of Powder charge

 

[Cecil S.]

Breach with loading Elevator.

 

[Outrider27]

I had Gunnery and Fire Control as a required course in college, and had a Senior Chief Petty Officer that had actually served on them for an instructor - he instructed us well, as they were coming out of moth balls for heavy fire support in coastal Vietnam. My cousin, who was Armored, loved tank operations close enough to the coast that you had one of the old battleships for artillery support - he said that if you got into trouble, you just radioed them your position and that of the intended target and they fired a couple of rounds for you to report where they landed in relation to your position and the intended target and then they immediately got serious, devastating your "problem". And one thing the Chief taught us - 6 bags of powder was for full power and long range; for some situations, especially if the range was "short", say only 4-5 miles, you used fewer. It's been a lot of years, but I think he said that 3 bags was the minimum.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

Thanks for sharing this, very interesting!

 

[Lee in Texas]

That’s awesome, but also sad to see the condition it’s in.

 

[kvd]

Great photos - very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

 

[jplahr]

Yes that is history, very cool

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

Very cool, thanks for sharing this. I have been on the Texas several times as a young lad but I don’t remember being able to get inside a turret.

 

[SmokinJoe]

One of my uncles served on the Alabama and he shared a few tales of life on board and battle times. My middle name comes from him. My wife and I toured the Alabama a few years ago and found it to be a very interesting experience, including those gun turrents. Everything on those WWII ships was unbelievably tight. Spent the night on the Yorktown carrier with the Boy Scouts years ago and toured the submarine there, too, all really tight, perhaps best described as "purpose built".

 

[jackieschmidt]

I have visited the Alabama twice. It is an amazing piece of machinery.

 

[ND shooter]

Where is the Alabama located if I may ask? And yes very cool. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Alguapo]

My father was a Chief Fire Control on a Destroyer in WWII. He joined in 1938 and retired in 1958. On December 7th he was on Air Craft Carrier support a half day out side of Pearl Harbor. He was very proud to have served. He would have been 102 this year. Thank you to all who served, past and present.

 

[Tricky5225]

Where is the Alabama located if I may ask? And yes very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Mobile, AL

 

[ND shooter]

Mobile, AL

10-4 thank you. Gonna have to visit someday.

 

[Bill K]

Love touring those old ships when ever I can, at various sites, if and where they are still available, and not sunk for reef structure out in the ocean. Thanks for sharing that.

 

[wbm]

Now that by gosh is a real SHOOTIN ARN

 

[ronsroom1]

Absolutely Amazing.
Thank You for sharing.

 

[Dogshirt]

I saw the Alabama way back in 1967 when my family drove from Washington state to visit family in Florida.
We ate dinner right across the highway from it. As a kid from the deserts of Washington, I had never seen a ship that big.

 

[centerlineseal]

I saw the Alabama way back in 1967 when my family drove from Washington state to visit family in Florida.
We ate dinner right across the highway from it. As a kid from the deserts of Washington, I had never seen a ship that big.

Saw and toured the Missouri when I was 14 (1968) while visiting Bremerton WA on a family trip from KS. Also visited the Big MO in Honolulu anchored near the Arizona monument in my later travels.

Worked with a WW-II vet who was a "powder monkey" on a cruiser. Scary job, scary times and Tough Men!