Alabama USS 1942

[john sefton]

Alabama was laid down on 1 February 1940 by the Norfolk Navy Yard, launched on 16 February 1942. After fitting out, Alabama commenced her shakedown cruise in Chesapeake Bay on 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 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 22.2 (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 to the Home Fleet.
On 2 April 1943, Alabama, as part of Task Force 22 (TF 22), sailed for the Orkney Islands with her sister ship and a screen of five destroyers. Proceeding via Little Placentia Sound and Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, the battleship reached Scapa Flow on 19 May, reporting for duty with Task Force 61 and becoming a unit of the British Home Fleet.
Early in June, Alabama and her sister ship, along with British Home Fleet units, covered the reinforcement of the garrison on the island of Spitsbergen, 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 Tirpitz, but the Germans did not rise to the challenge, and the enemy battleship remained in Norway.
Alabama was detached from the British Home Fleet on 1 August, and, in company with the South Dakota and screening destroyers, steamed for Norfolk, arriving there on 9 August. For the next 10 days, Alabama underwent a period of overhaul and repairs. The battleship departed from Norfolk on 20 August for the Pacific Ocean. Transiting the Panama Canal five days later, she dropped anchor in Havannah Harbor, at Efate, in the New Hebrides on 14 September.
Following exercises she moved to Fiji on 7 November. Alabama steamed 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 8 December, Alabama - along with five other fast battleships - bombarded Nauru Island, an enemy phosphate-producing center, causing severe damage to shore installations there. She then escorted Bunker Hill and Monterey back to Efate, arriving on 12 December.
Alabama departed the New Hebrides for Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1944, for replacement of her port outboard propeller, after which she 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 TG 58.2, which was formed around the carrier Essex, and left the Ellice Islands on 25 January to help carry out Operation Flintlock, the invasion of the Marshall Islands. Alabama, South Dakota and North Carolina bombarded Roi on 29 January and Namur on 30 January. Over the following days of the campaign, Alabama patrolled the area north of Kwajalein Atoll. On 12 February, Alabama sortied with the Bunker Hill task group to launch attacks on Japanese installations, aircraft and shipping at Truk. Those raids, launched on 16-17 February, caused heavy damage to enemy shipping concentrated at that island base.
Leaving Truk, Alabama began steaming toward the Mariana Islands to assist in strikes on Tinian, Saipan, and Guam. During this action, while repelling enemy air attacks on 21 February, 5 in (130 mm) mount No. 9 accidentally fired into gun mount No. 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. There she served temporarily as flagship for Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, Commander, TF 58, from 3-8 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 with TF 58 in the screen of Yorktown. 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.
The battleship returned briefly to Majuro, before she sailed on 13 April with TF 58, this time in the screen of Enterprise. In the next three weeks, TF 58 hit enemy targets on Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura), 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. Alabama then returned to Majuro on 4 May 1944 to prepare for the invasion of the Marianas.
After a month of 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, the 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, and provided the first warning to TF 58 of the incoming Japanese air strike when she reported having detected a large bogie on her air search radar. In response to Vice Admiral Mitscher’s immediate request for confirmation: Over the course of the next five hours, the Japanese hurled repeated strikes against Vice Admiral Mitscher’s fast carrier force, seven raids in all. Three of those involved TG 58.7, and two of which saw Alabama opening fire.
In the first instance, only two planes managed to penetrate the formation to attack South Dakota, but. An hour later a second wave, composed largely of torpedo bombers, bore in, but Alabama's barrage discouraged two planes from attacking the already bloodied 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.
What US Navy pilots came to call the "Marianas Turkey Shoot" severely depleted Japanese naval air power. Alabama's "early warning" had allowed the carriers to scramble their fighters and intercept the in-bound enemy "at a considerable distance" from TF 58 than would otherwise have been possible.
Alabama continued patrolling areas around the Marianas to protect the American landing forces on Saipan, screening the east 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 (BatDiv 9), left Eniwetok on 14 July, 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. From 6-8 September, the forces launched strikes on the Carolinas.
Alabama departed the Carolines to sail to the Philippines and provided cover for the carriers striking the islands of Cebu Island, Leyte, Bohol and Negros from 12-14 September. The carriers launched strikes on shipping and installations in the Manila Bay area on 21-22 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.
On 6 October, Alabama sailed with TF 38 to support the liberation of the Philippines. 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. 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.
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 Engaño. On 24 October, although American air strikes destroyed four Japanese carriers in the Battle off Cape Engaño, the Japanese Central Force under Vice Admiral Takeo 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 Essex task group to hit enemy forces in the central Philippines before retiring to Ulithi on 30 October for replenishment.
Underway again on 3 November, 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 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 14-16 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; Alabama experienced rolls of 30°, had both her OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes so badly damaged that they were of no further value, and received minor damage to her structure. Three destroyers, Hull, Monaghan, and Spence, 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 drydock on 18 January 1945. Shipyard 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, and arrived there on 10 April. She then continued on to Ulithi and moored there on 28 April.
Alabama departed from Ulithi with TF 58 on 9 May, bound for the Ryukyu Islands, to support forces which had landed on Okinawa on 1 April, and to protect the fast carriers as they launched air strikes on installations in the Ryukyus and on Kyūshū. On 14 May, several Japanese planes penetrated the combat air patrol to get at the carriers; one crashed into Admiral Mitscher's flagship. Alabama's guns splashed two, and assisted in splashing two more.
Subsequently, Alabama rode out a typhoon on 4-5 June, suffering only superficial damage, while Pittsburgh lost her bow. Alabama subsequently bombarded the Japanese island of Minami Daito Shima, with other fast battleships on 10 June and then headed for Leyte Gulf later in June to prepare to strike at the heart of Japan with the 3rd Fleet.
On 1 July, Alabama and other 3rd Fleet units got underway for the Japanese home islands. Throughout the month of July, Alabama carried out strikes on targets in industrial areas of Tokyo and other points on Honshū, Hokkaidō, and Kyūshū; on the night of 17 July 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 Honshū, about 8 mi (13 km) northeast of Tokyo. Onboard Alabama to observe the operation was retired Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, the famed polar explorer.
According to data found at the USS Alabama Monument in Mobile, Alabama, the ship fired over 1,250 16 in (410 mm) shells on the enemy during supporting bombardments, shot down 22 enemy aircraft and never incurred any damage due to enemy action. The ship suffered only five casualties during the war, the result of one of the ship's guns accidentally firing on one of the ship's other guns; it did not lose a single man due to enemy action, thus earning it the nickname "Lucky A".
The end of the war found Alabama still at sea, operating off the southern coast of Honshū. 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. 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 Operation Magic Carpet. She reached San Francisco at mid-day on 15 October, and on 27 October 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.
Class and type: South Dakota-class (1939) battleship Displacement: 35,000 long tons standard Length: 680 ft (210 m) Beam: 108.2 ft (33.0 m) Draft: 36.2 ft (11.0 m) Propulsion: oil-fired steam turbines, 4 shafts Speed: 27.5 kn (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h) Range: 15,000 nmi (17,000 mi; 28,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) Complement: 1,793 officers and men Sensors and
processing systems: radar Armament: 9 × 16 in (410 mm)/45 cal Mark 6 guns
20 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal guns
24 × Bofors 40 mm guns
22 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons (ever-increasing) Aircraft carried: OS2U Kingfisher scout planes
http://en.wikipedia.org
Marshall Is SG889 Ghana SG2689

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Somaliland 2011, 2500 a. StG.?