U.S.S. Alabama
BB-8
1900
(Navis 314)
- Class: Illinois - 3 battleships of 1896
- Displacement: 11,565 tons
- Dimensions: 375' (oa) x 72'2" x 24'6"
- Machinery: twin screw, steam vertical triple-expansion, IHP 10,000 = 16 knots
- Armor: Main belt 16.5in, turrets 14in, secondary turrets 6-8in, CT 10in
- Armament: 4-13in/35 (2x2), 14-6in/40, 16-6pdr, 8-1pdr; 4-18in TT
- Complement: 711
- Builder: William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, PA
- Laid down: 2 Dec 1896
- Launched: 18 May 1898
- Commissioned: 16 Oct 1900
- Decommissioned: 17 Aug 1909
- Recommissioned: 1 Jul 1912
- Decommissioned: 1 Jul 1914
- Recommissioned: 5 Apr 1917
- Decommissioned: 7 May 1920
- Notes: Conducted annual fleet cruises and exercises from 1901 to 1907, with exception of 1904, when she cruised to the Mediterranean. Departed Hampton Roads 16 Dec 1907 for voyage around the world as part of the Great White Fleet. After rounding Cape Horn and reaching San Francisco, she had to be docked for repairs at Mare Island. Consequently, she and Maine traveled separtely from the GWF across the Pacific, via Honolulu, Guam, Manila, Singapore, Colombo, Suez, Naples, Gibraltar, and back to the U.S. She was decommissioned and overhauled from 1909 to 1912, receiving cage masts in place of her military masts and 4-3in guns in place of 12-6pdr; TT also removed. She was returned to service in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and used occasinally for training activities before decommissioning again. During WWI she was recommissioned for recruit training duties in the Chesapeake and along the Atlantic Coast with secondary armament reduced to 8-6in and 2-3in. In 1919 she carried Naval Academy midshipmen on their summer cruise, and then was decommissioned for the last time in 1920 and transferred to the War Department. Used as a target by the Army Air Corps, 27 Sep 1921, and sunk in shallow water in Chesapeake Bay. Hulk sold for scrap 19 Mar 1924.
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