Today we went to Mobile, AL to see the USS Alabama, a World War II battleship. While my pictures show the deck pretty well, they can't begin to convey what the below decks area is like. If you've never toured a ship from this era, I encourage you to do so.

Among other things, these ships are a study in space utilization. Rooms fit into every nook and cranny, crew members eating at tables attached to the big gun turret barbettes and bunks that hung everywhere (although most of them were removed to make the tour easier.)

They are also a testament to firepower. Just look at the line up of guns as listed on the placard as you come aboard. This thing was made for blowing things to bits.

One thing that really drove home the size of this boat was the anchor chains. It takes a lot to hold 85 million pounds in one place. The engine room was incredible. Valves, wires, pipes and gauges everywhere. You could only begin to imagine what it was have been like in there when this thing was running at full power.

Also on display there is the USS Drum, a World War II submarine. Although the tour through it is not nearly as extensive, it does give you a general feel of the close quarters inside including 16 crewmen sleeping in the forward torpedo room. With the torpedoes.

There was a replica of the CSS Hunley, a Civil War sub and the first sub to sink an enemy warship. It apparently did this by poking it with a pointy stick.

Another building housed the aircraft pavilion, featuring numerous military aircraft through the years. Of particular interest to me were an F-16, one of my favorite planes of all time, and another A-12. There were also a dozen or so World War II era planes but I couldn't get good pictures of most of them because of how they were placed. We rode the flight simulator which was an interesting sensation because, although you know that you're not tilting that far off center, the combination of that movement with the visual image of a high banked turn made for a very realistic feeling.

Heading back to Fairhope, we check the boat and the tide was back up to where we could be sure that, if we got on, we'd be able to get back off again. So we're staying on the boat for the rest of the trip. We walked down to the Bay about sunset and waded for a bit. The Bay, however, has a fair amount of mud in the sand and a lot of debris on the bottom, at least where we were. Tomorrow we're going over to the Gulf.