Names of the Crew

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Photo Album

Ship's Organization

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Suggested Reading

Credits Bibliography

to Alabama, Very Well Done

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This site is dedicated to the men who served aboard Battleship Alabama.    It's focus is on the ship and the crewmen that served her during WW II.  These were the men that made the ship a living entity.  They lived on the ship and maintained her battle readiness and seaworthy condition.  They fought the enemy  from her decks.  Some died on her.  

The USS Alabama BB60 was launched in February 1942 at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia.  She was commissioned for active service on 16 August 1942 and served until de-commissioned in January 1947. 

During her active life, ship operations first took her into the North Atlantic, ports of call included Argentia Newfoundland, Scapa Flow (in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland for duty with the British Home Fleet), Reykjavik Iceland, Akureyri Iceland (north of the Artic circle).  The Home Fleet was a sizeable force, made necessary due to the German battleship Von Tirpitz having taken refuge in Norway at Trondhiem.  Operations included shadowing allied convoys to Murmansk.  In one instance, providing protection to a convoy of ships carrying troops to relieve an allied garrison at Spitsbergen.

In August 1943, Alabama returned to her birthplace, Norfolk Virginia.  After a very short stay, she proceeded to Balboa, Panama, through the canal, and then to Havannah Harbor, Efate, New Hebrides in the South Pacific.  As a unit of the fast battleship/carrier task forces (Task Forces 38 and 58) she ranged the southern and western Pacific ocean supporting island invasions and raids on enemy installations.  Alabama received nine battle stars for her service in the Pacific ocean areas during WW II. 

The ship, now located at Battleship Park in Mobile, Alabama, serves as a war memorial for the state of Alabama.. 

Battle Stars:

bullet

Gilbert Islands Operation  -   19 Nov. to 8 Dec., 1943

bulletMarshall Islands Operation 
Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls 29 January to 8 February, 1944
bulletAsiatic-Pacific Raids - 1944
Truk Attack - 16 - 17 February, 1944  
Marianas Attack - 21 - 22 February, 1944
Palau, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai Raid - 30 Mar. - 1 Apr., 1944
bulletHollandia Operation 
(Aitape Humboldt Bay Tanahmerah Bay) - 21 - 24 April, 1944
bulletMarianas Operation
Capture and Occupation of Saipan - 11-24 June, 1944
Battle of Philippine Sea - 19-20 June, 1944           
Ref:  U.S. Pacific Fleet, Advance Headquarters, Guam, Press Release No. 182 of Monday 12 August 1945. "It was the Alabama which first gave the  warning to the rest of her task force that a huge air-fleet of Japanese planes was approaching.  The resulting battle, in which the Japanese force was turned back, has been called the first battle of the Philippines Sea.  American carrier pilots termed the air battle a "turkey shoot".
      Ref:  Vice Admiral Willis Lee's TBS transmission at 1247 on 19 June 1944: "to Alabama Very Well Done."  
Capture and Occupation of Guam 12 July to 15 August, 1944
Palau, Yap, Ulithi Raid - 25 - 27 July, 1944
bulletWestern Caroline Islands Operation
Raids on Volcano-Bonin Islands and Yap Island 31 August - 8 September 1944  
Capture and Occupation of Southern Palau Island 6 September - 14 October, 1944                                                                                                
Assaults on the Philippine Islands - 9-24 Sept., 1944
bulletLeyte Operation
THIRD Fleet Supporting Operations Okinawa Attack 10 October, 1944 
Northern Luzon and Formosa Attacks - 11 - 14 October,  1944 
Luzon Attacks - 15-19 October; 5-6, 13-14, 20-22 November; and 14-16 December, 1944
Visayas Attacks - 21 October, 1944
bulletOkinawa Gunto Operation
FIFTH and THIRD Fleet Raids in Support of Okinawa Gunto Operation 9 May - 11 June, 1945
bulletTHIRD Fleet Operations against Japan 10 July - 15 August 1945

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