The USS Alabama is at a Battleship Memorial Park which is also home to the USS Drum and several military aircraft.
I haven't been on very many ships turned museums, the only other being the USS Constitution in Boston. (Where you can't.touch.anything.) So I found it pretty cool that you were able to sit & stand at the guns on USS Alabama. Personally, I would have been peeing my pants seeing this thing pointed towards me with all it's guns blazing.
However, the coolness factor ended when you could actually climb inside the BIG guns.
(Truthfully, it never occurred to me that someone had to be IN there to work the guns. I thought someone pushed a button elsewhere.)
This would be Tyson, taking my little precious baby into the gun turret. I went in, for approximately 15 seconds. I freaked out, got short of breath, couldn't open my eyes and left faster than you could imagine. I was genuinely interested in seeing in there. But, I'm woman enough to admit that I had goosepumps and this place was seriously haunted; I couldn't be in there.
Turns out, I was right.
It didn't help that I spent the entire time we were on the ship nervous that G was going to jump off the edge. I realize this is an old battleship, but couldn't we put an extra railing around the outside for safety of the wee ones?
On to happier times, we wandered through a large hanger. I didn't snap many pictures in there, because I think military planes are flipping cool. I did take a picture of an old jeep, because seeing it made Tyson giddy.
Next stop was the USS Drum. I wasn't sure how I'd do in the sub, after the turret incident. It turned out to be pretty cool.
None of these museums are federally or tax-payer funded. The Drum was rehabbed with donations through a local Submarine Vet group. Some of these Vets were on the sub and it was nice to see them. Tyson was able to chat with some fellow sailors, one of whom even served on one of the same carriers Tyson had.
Here is one of the torpedo rooms.
Pick a rack & get comfy kid!
This view is from the desk of the USS Drum, you can see a handful of the planes on display.
It turned out to be a beautiful day, and a great way to remember those who served. I hope we are able to continue visiting places like for many Veterans Days to come.
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