Assigned as part of Task Force 58 (TF58), Alabama once against screen American carriers and managed to down several incoming enemy aircraft. On March 30th, Allied air raids were undertaken on several islands against enemy positions with Alabama providing support. Her guns covered Army amphibious landings on New Guinea in April and steamed with aircraft carriers during attacks on the Truk Atoll. She then joined other warships in leveling Ponape prior to the amphibious assault on the Marianas. The invasion followed through "Operation Forager".
USS Alabama took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, marking the last major aircraft carrier engagement of the war. The vessel provided a stout defense with her AA guns as the battle evolved to become the "Marianas Turkey Shoot" - scoring the Allies some 400 enemy warplanes downed in the action while the Japanese Navy were also to suffer the loss of three complete aircraft carriers - this turned the tide of naval power in the Pacific in favor of the Allies.
Alabama served in the bombardment role at Guam, Tinian, and Saipan thereafter and supported the Guam landings during July of 1944 before engaging enemy forces at the Carolines in September. She covered the liberation of the Philippines and supported carriers engaging targets in Okinawa and Taiwan. The warship was in drydock by the end of January 1945 and was put to sea as soon as March to which she trained personnel and tested new installations. This took her from California to Pearl and, finally, to Ulithi for April. Her guns aided in the Okinawa landings that month and she survived a deadly typhoon in June. For July, she joined other American warships en route to the Japanese mainland for the final assault to end the Pacific War. She supported air raids on key Japanese industrial centers during this time.
The Japanese Empire fell in August of 1945 and this found Alabama near Honshu. During the period, she helped to land Marines on Japanese soil before entering Tokyo Bay on September 5th. She took on troops and sailed for Okinawa where she brought aboard several hundreds more for the return trip to the United States ("Operation Magic Carpet"). She was deactivated in 1946 and formally decommissioned on January 9th, 1947. She was then laid up as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet before being removed from the Naval Register on June 1st, 1962.
For her service in World War 2, Alabama earned a total of nine Battle Stars. Her nickname became "Lucky A".
A civilian-led initiative of 1963 ultimately saved Alabama from the scrap heap to become a floating museum in 1964. She remains a tourist destination today (2015) alongside the attack submarine USS Drum (SS-228) and many aircraft and armor exhibits in Mobile Bay, Alabama.
USS Alabama stood in for another World War 2-era veteran warship, USS Missouri (BB-63), in the 1992 Steven Seagal motion picture "Under Siege". USS Drum (SS-228), stood in for the French-made North Korean attack submarine in the same film. USS Alabama was also used in the television mini-series "War and Remembrance" and the 1942 Abbott and Costello motion picture "In the Navy".
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.