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Warships Associated With
World War II in the Pacific



South Dakota class

USS Alabama
USS Alabama
(Photo by USS Alabama Memorial Commission, 1985)

Name:USS Alabama (BB-60)
Location:Battleship Parkway, Mobile, Alabama
Owner:USS Alabama Battleship Commission
Condition:Excellent, unaltered

Displacement:35,000 tons standard / 42,500 tons full load
Length:679 feet
Width:108 feet
Machinery:4 sets, Westinghouse Turbines, 8 Foster Wheeler Boilers
Fuel Oil Capacity:6,959 tons
Maximum Speed:28 knots
Armament:9 16-inch/45 caliber Mark 6 guns, 20 5-inch/38 caliber Mark 12 guns, Various combinations of 40 mm and 20 mm antiaircraft guns
Crew:2,300 wartime

Builder:Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virgina
Launched:February 16, 1942
Commissioned:August 16, 1942


USS Alabama (BB 60) is the fourth of four South Dakota class battleships laid down in the 1930s and 1940s. She was built by the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. Her keel was laid on February 1, 1940 and she was launched on February 16, 1942. USS Alabama was commissioned on August 16, 1942.

The design of the South Dakota class was influenced by the same limitations as the previous North Carolina class, because it, too, was intended to meet Washington Treaty limits. The chief difference was that the South Dakota class, including USS Alabama, was designed from the start to carry a 16-inch main battery. To accommodate the heavier armour needed for a 16-inch battery and keep the required weight under 35,000 tons, the waterline length of the South Dakota class was shortened from that of the North Carolina class while the beam remained the same. This change meant that the South Dakota class has a much fuller hull form than the North Carolina class. More powerful engines were also installed to maintain the same fast speed obtained by the North Carolina class. [1]

USS Alabama is painted grey on metal surfaces exposed to the elements with the exception of a black stack cap and black "boot topping" at the waterline. Three quarters of the ship's deck is covered with teak laid on a bituminous base and bolted to the deck. USS Alabama was built with two explosively-driven catapults on the stern port and starboard, for launching observation airplanes. One of these was removed and discarded during the ships inactive period. One catapult is still in place with a fully restored OS2U Kingfisher airplane in place.

USS Alabama is in excellent condition and retains her World War II integrity. USS Alabama was decommissioned by the navy in 1947 and remained unaltered until the time of her transfer to the State of Alabama as a war memorial in 1964. In 1983 the navy removed some spare parts from USS Alabama for the reactivation of the Iowa class battleships.

Role of the Battleship in World War II

The first modern battleship had its inception with the launching of HMS Dreadnought by Great Britain in 1906. HMS Dreadnought was the world's first all-big-gun, fast, heavily armoured capital ship and her launching made all the major ships in all other navies obsolete. The design features of HMS Dreadnought were rapidly copied by other navies and by 1914 the modern gun heavily armoured battle ship dominated naval warfare.




While the rise of the aircraft carrier forever altered naval strategy it did not totally eclipse the importance of the battleship. In both the Atlantic and the Pacific, old American battleships carried out extensive bombardments on enemy held shores while new generations of fast American battleships escorted aircraft carriers and provided them with a dense thicket of antiaircraft fire when necessary.

Both old and new American battleships saw heavy service during the war, providing cover for other ships and eventually bombarding the Japanese home islands in 1945. When the war in the Pacific ended on September 2, 1943, the surrender of the Japanese was signed on board the battleship USS Missouri anchored in Tokyo Harbor. Although replaced by the aircraft carrier as the principal capital ship of the navy, the battleship saw important and useful service during World War II, and contributed to the eventual American victory.

USS Alabama represents American battleships that fought against Japan in World War II for the following reasons:

  1. USS Alabama is representative of the South Dakota class of American battleships that fought against Japan in World War II. Built later than the North Carolina class, the South Dakota class represents the continued American preparation for World War II and the development of a more advanced battleship design.

  2. Beginning in 1943, USS Alabama saw continuous action in both the European and Pacific Theaters of operation. USS Alabama earned nine battle stars for her World War II service. USS Alabama also earned the Navy Occupation Service Medal Pacific, for the period of 2 to 23 September 1945.

  3. USS Alabama is in excellent condition and retains all of her World War II integrity.


1. Rob Stern, U.S. Battleships in Action Part 2 (Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/ Signal Publications, Inc., 1984). p. 21.


Cheasnau, Roger. ed. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. New York: Mayflower Books, 1980.


Pater, Alan F. United States Battleships--The History of America's Greatest Fighting Fleet. Beverly Hills, California: Monitor book Company, 1968.

Stern, Rob. U.S. Battleships in Action Part 2. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc. 1984.


USS Alabama USS Alabama USS Alabama

(click on the above photographs for a more detailed view)

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