I toured the Alabama memorial day weekend!

[kernal_panic]

Mods note this post has lots of guns pictured.

last weekend i drove up and over to Mobile to see the Lucky A as she was called. after touring the ship and seeing the list of those who served on it i found i might have a relative that served on it!

Picture of the Alabama from my hotel deck:

She's the last of the South Dakota class battleships.

picture taken from her stern

I am gessing battle damage. looks like a 20 mm cannon hit. the angle is pretty consitant from a hit from the air. Considering the number of Jap planes she shot down its not suprising.

my dad next to the no3 turret

information plaque about the ship

They had a bitchin aircraft museum too. here are some pics:

They have an old CIA A-12 spyplane/interceptor:

They also have the USS Drum submarine. Here is me manning its 5 inch deck gun. the deckgun is movable!

Managed to grab a picture of a sweet looking Garand:

according to the plaque in the display the Blackbird clocks at 3800 fps. thats faster than .308, .30-06, 223 remington, 22-250 and most .220 swift loads.

I've got more pics i'll post more later if anyones interested.

 

[mondocomputerman]

Pretty sweet pics! I remember visiting the Alabama and the Drum several years ago. I think they used the Alabama to film parts of the move Under Siege. I'll have to make my way back there soon.

 

[Brasso]

That looks a lot like an SR-21 BlackBird. It 's probably just a different name for different owners.

 

[RRTX]

That looks a lot like an SR-21 BlackBird. It 's probably just a different name for different owners

IIRC A-12 was the original designation for the SR-71, I the first few built were called the A-12 then it was changed to SR-71 once it went operational. I'm sure there were a few enhancements to the Blackbird as well

 

[Detritus]

IIRC A-12 was the original designation for the SR-71, I the first few built were called the A-12 then it was changed to SR-71 once it went operational. I'm sure there were a few enhancements to the Blackbird as well

changes not QUITE enhancements..... the A-12 actually had a better/larger/more comprehensive "recon package" (more cameras on more wavelengths). as you can tell from the Photo the A12 is a single seat aircraft, having only a pilot who had to not only fly the beast but also manage the cameras....

when the airforce decided that they wanted a two man crew (the blackbird is a tricky SOB to fly, so they wanted teh pilot to fly not be fiddling with the "mission package") the extra space taken by the RSO was provided by reducing the size of the sensor bay and taking out some of the sensors the AF deemed "non essential".

oh and just to cover another misnomer about the blackbird types, and it may be splitting hairs but, there was never an interceptor version of the CIAs A-12. but since the AF incerceptor project based on the airframe was called YF-12, many think it was a direct offshoot of the A12. most inovative interceptor america ever built and we scrapped it in favor of more SAMs. well that and the fact that it kept outrunning those first generation AIM-54 Phoenixes(can't remember the prototype Designation for those, but it IS the same missle that was upgraded and put on the F-14) that hughes designed for it

 

[kernal_panic]

hey he's right i looked it up and the Alabama played the part of the missouri in under seige!