Drive the causeway across the top of Mobile Bay and you can’t miss her: a grey wall of steel, 680 feet long, her nine big guns pointing out over the water. The USS Alabama has been moored here since 1964, and she is one of the best-loved museum ships in America. She is also, if you believe the volunteers who lock up at night and the ghost hunters who come after them, one of the most haunted. As always, I’ll tell you her real story first, then the legends, and keep the two apart.
“The Mighty A” in the Second World War
USS Alabama (BB-60) was the fourth and last of the South Dakota class of fast battleships. Her keel was laid at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Virginia on 1 February 1940, she was launched on 16 February 1942, just ten weeks after Pearl Harbor, and she was commissioned on 16 August 1942. In wartime she carried about 2,500 men, packed into a ship designed for far fewer.
Her first job was in the Atlantic. In the spring and summer of 1943 she and her sister South Dakota joined the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, covering convoys to the Soviet Union and helping with a feint toward Norway. In August 1943 she headed for the Pacific, and that’s where she spent the rest of the war.
In the Pacific she mostly guarded the aircraft carriers of the fast carrier task force, and bombarded Japanese-held islands before landings. Her record reads like a map of the Pacific war: Tarawa and the Gilberts in November 1943, the Marshall Islands (Roi and Namur) in early 1944, Truk, the Marianas, the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, where she was the first ship to pick up the incoming Japanese aircraft on radar, then the Philippines, Okinawa and finally strikes on the Japanese home islands in the summer of 1945. She rode out two typhoons, steamed into Tokyo Bay on 5 September 1945, and then carried about 700 men home as part of Operation Magic Carpet. She earned nine battle stars, and she was known as “the Lucky A” because she lost no men to enemy action. Crews also called her “the Mighty A”.
The tragedy of 21 February 1944
She didn’t come through the war without loss, though. On 21 February 1944, during an air attack while she was screening the carriers near the Marianas, one of her own 5-inch gun mounts, Mount No. 9, accidentally fired into Mount No. 5. Five men were killed and eleven wounded. The Navy records name the dead as Robert L. Langston, David P. Leopard Jr., Albert D. Roberts, Matthew Trojan and Manuel Vegas. I want to name them here because they are real people, and because their deaths sit at the heart of the ship’s ghost stories.
(You’ll sometimes see this accident placed in 1942, or the death toll given as eight. The Navy’s own history and the ship’s casualty records say 21 February 1944, and five killed.)
Saved by the schoolchildren of Alabama
After the war Alabama was decommissioned in January 1947 and laid up in the reserve fleet at Bremerton, Washington. In 1962 she was struck from the Navy list and was headed for the scrapyard. That’s when the people of Alabama stepped in.
The state set up the USS Alabama Battleship Commission, and in 1963–64 it launched the “Save the Alabama” campaign. Schoolchildren all over the state brought in their nickels, dimes and quarters, and around $100,000 came from children, roughly an eighth of the approximately $800,000 raised. Most of the rest came from businesses. (Different sources give slightly different totals, but the children’s share is the part everyone remembers.) On 16 June 1964 the Navy awarded the ship to the state, and she was formally handed over in Seattle on 7 July 1964.
Then came an epic tow: down the West Coast, through the Panama Canal, with only inches to spare on each side, and across the Gulf of Mexico. One of the tugboats sank on the way to the canal. On 14 September 1964 Alabama arrived in Mobile Bay to a hero’s welcome. After dredging, mooring and repainting, Battleship Memorial Park opened to visitors on 9 January 1965. She was named a National Historic Landmark in 1986, and she has appeared in films including Under Siege (1992).
Storms and repairs
Life on the Gulf Coast is hard on an old ship. In the early 2000s the park spent many millions of dollars on major hull repairs, building a cofferdam around the ship, pumping it dry and removing millions of gallons of oily water. In September 2005 Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge hit the park hard; the ship took on water and developed a list of a few degrees to port, and the park was closed for several months while it was repaired. Exhibits and aircraft on shore were damaged too. The park has been hit by other storms over the years, so check the official website after any big Gulf hurricane before you visit.
The ghost stories
Now for the legends. None of what follows is documented history; it’s what staff, volunteers, overnight youth groups and paranormal teams have reported over the years. Some versions also connect the hauntings to workers said to have died while the ship was being built in Norfolk, but I haven’t found a reliable source for those deaths.
Footsteps and slamming hatches
The most common report is of footsteps: heavy, purposeful steps walking toward you along an empty passageway, or on the deck above when nobody is there. Others describe tapping and knocking inside the bulkheads late at night, and steel hatches that close on their own. Anyone who has been inside an old steel ship knows how it creaks and bangs as it warms and cools, so make of that what you will.
The men at the gun mounts
Many of the stories gather around the secondary battery, the 5-inch gun mounts, where the five sailors died in 1944. Visitors and investigators say they have felt a heavy presence, seen shadowy figures, or felt cold spots there. It’s easy to understand why: the accident is the ship’s one real tragedy, and it happened right where visitors walk today.
Galley, officers’ quarters and the berthing decks
Apparitions have also been reported in the galley and the officers’ quarters. Among the odder tales is a visitor walking past the crew berthing who said something tugged at her earrings. Many people simply say they feel watched below decks.
Ghost hunts and investigations
The ship has been visited by paranormal investigators and TV ghost-hunting crews, and the park has held special evening and paranormal events at times, especially around Halloween. Whether those are running when you visit is something you’ll need to check with the park, as events change from year to year.
Visiting Battleship Memorial Park
The park is at 2703 Battleship Parkway in Mobile, on the causeway (US 90/98) on the east side of Mobile Bay, just off I-10. You can wander a large part of the battleship on self-guided routes, from the main deck and gun turrets down to the crew’s berthing, galley, sick bay and engine areas. Wear sturdy shoes: the ladders between decks are steep and narrow, and lower decks can be hot in summer.
The park also has the submarine USS Drum (SS-228), a Gato-class boat commissioned in November 1941, the oldest surviving member of her class. She earned 12 battle stars in the Pacific and is credited with sinking 15 Japanese ships. In the early 2000s she was moved from the water onto land so her hull could be preserved, and you can walk through her narrow length, which is a fascinating contrast to the battleship. There is also an aircraft pavilion with military aircraft and other exhibits around the grounds.
As a rough guide, the park has typically opened daily from 8 a.m., closing around 4 p.m. in winter and later in summer, and is closed on Christmas Day. Adult admission has recently been in the high teens to low twenties of dollars, with discounts for children, seniors and military, plus a parking fee. Hours and prices change, so check ussalabama.com before you go.
My take
I don’t know whether anyone still walks the Alabama’s passageways at night. But I do know she was saved by children emptying their piggy banks, and that five young men died aboard her far from home. Whether you come for the history or the ghosts, spend a moment by the 5-inch mounts and remember them.
FAQ
Is the USS Alabama haunted?
There’s no proof, but staff, volunteers and paranormal investigators have reported footsteps, slamming hatches and apparitions, especially near the 5-inch gun mounts where five sailors died in a 1944 accident.
Did the USS Alabama lose men in combat?
No. She was nicknamed “the Lucky A” because she lost no men to enemy fire. Five men died in an accidental gun mount firing on 21 February 1944.
When did the USS Alabama come to Mobile?
She arrived in Mobile Bay on 14 September 1964, after a tow from Washington State via the Panama Canal, and Battleship Memorial Park opened on 9 January 1965.
Can you tour the submarine as well?
Yes. The submarine USS Drum (SS-228), a WWII Gato-class boat, is on display on land at the park and has been included in general admission.
Top image: USS Alabama (BB-60) at Battleship Memorial Park, Mobile. Photo: Nicolas Chadeville, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons