We took a short (six-day) vacation to the Gulf Coast. On Friday, we drove down to Vicksburg, stopping in McGehee, Arkansas for a BBQ lunch at Hoots and along the shore of Grand Lake to see White-winged Doves. We drove through a corner of Louisiana because my wife had never been to that state. We took a quick trip through Vicksburg National Military Park, only getting out of the car to tour the USS Cairo Civil War Ironclad and the museum of items recovered from her. We spent the night at a Hampton Inn south of Jackson.
On Saturday, we drove down to Mobile and toured the USS Alabama battleship. It took us about two hours and we saw everything there was to see except the engine room. I took about 50 photos, but I’m not including them all in this post. The most interesting part of the tour for me was the separate full range of facilities — food, laundry, supplies, beds, etc. — for officers, warrant officers, NCOs, and sailors. We went three or four levels up in the superstructure, and two levels down below the main deck.
Some random photos from inside the ship.
Captain’s cabin when the ship was at sea. (There was another larger cabin below that he used in port.)
Crew galley
Crew quarters
The “Gedunk,” an ice cream parlor found only on larger ships — battleships and carriers.
Hospital isolation ward
Radio Room
After eating lunch in the diner in the park (some surprisingly good hot dogs), we toured the USS Drum, a WWII submarine that saw a lot of action.
Captain’s cabin
Officers’ wardroom
Torpedo tubes
Crew bunks were sandwiched in wherever there was room.
We took our time and saw both ships thoroughly. It was interesting, but tiring. We had another hour-and-a-half drive down to Navarre Beach, where we had reserved our hotel.