18 February ‘09 Wednesday
As Louise and I passed through Mobile the other day, we passed by the Battleship Memorial Park, which was set up to display the USS Alabama, an aircraft pavilion, and the submarine USS Drum. We knew that visiting the memorial was a must while here in the area so we chose this afternoon to do it. We drove into Mobile about noon, so before we went over to the Alabama, we stopped off for lunch. Close by, we found Felix’s Fish House.
As Louise and I passed through Mobile the other day, we passed by the Battleship Memorial Park, which was set up to display the USS Alabama, an aircraft pavilion, and the submarine USS Drum. We knew that visiting the memorial was a must while here in the area so we chose this afternoon to do it. We drove into Mobile about noon, so before we went over to the Alabama, we stopped off for lunch. Close by, we found Felix’s Fish House.
It has survived a number of Hurricanes and it still sits overlooking the bay. With a cement foundation, walls and roofing of steel sheeting, it will most likely stay through a few more. We found the service at Felix OUTSTANDING !!! I can’t remember having better service and knowledge of foods being served. It was so good (oysters and catfish, and incredible shrimp), I went to great length to let everyone that worked with us know how much we appreciated their service. The food was also way above average…this was a great experience. Following lunch, we drove the mile over to the memorial. Once into the grounds, we were blown away by the size and stature of the Battleship USS Alabama. It is an amazing ship… We purchased our tickets and headed for the gang plank. Over the next 2 hours we walked most of the passageways, and levels of the Alabama examining everything closely. I even tried out one of the bunks.
Man did that take me back. My bunk on the USS Independence was the top of two. I had a vent cover on the air-conditioning system that I could take down and store some of my “goodies” (food), and I shared the room with 9 others. Here’s a little information on the Alabama that I thought I would post: Commissioned in August ’42, fought the Germans in the North Sea area until being transferred over to the Pacific Fleet in August 1943. Because of her advanced radar systems, she was able to detect enemy planes, alerting fleet gunners with enough advanced warning that they were able to knock down 476 enemy planes, including Alabama’s guns were able to stop the Japanese “Kamikaze” pilots that were bent on crashing their aircraft into our warships. It was also sent to Japan in 1945 and struck with devastating results using its big 16” projectiles. Following the surrender of Japan, and moving around the Pacific Ocean to make sure that the world was now safe from war, the Alabama was sent to Bremerton, Washington in 1947 and decommissioned and put into “moth balled” fleet.