MOBILE, Ala. – History came to life along the Mobile waterfront on Saturday as World War II reenactors took part in a “Call to Battle Stations” drill at USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park.
The living-history event centered on the park’s two signature vessels, the battleship USS Alabama and the submarine USS Drum. As part of the drill, enemy aircraft “flew over” the ships while crewmen manned and fired the guns to defend against them, giving visitors a vivid sense of what wartime service aboard the vessels once demanded.
A Hands-On History Lesson
Reenactments like Saturday’s are a longtime tradition at the park, where costumed volunteers help translate the scale and urgency of shipboard life into something visitors can see and hear firsthand. The booming of the guns and the choreographed response of the crew turned the static museum ships into an active stage for the day.
On the Air From the USS Alabama
The Deep South Amateur Radio Club was also on hand for the event, broadcasting from aboard the USS Alabama during the drill and connecting the historic ship to radio operators well beyond the waterfront.
The Ships and the Park
The USS Alabama is a South Dakota-class battleship, and the USS Drum is a Gato-class submarine with a storied World War II combat record. Beyond the two warships, the park on the Mobile River includes aircraft, military vehicles and memorials to the state’s veterans.
The Alabama was commissioned in 1942 and served in both the Atlantic and the Pacific before being decommissioned after the war. When the Navy slated the ship for scrapping in the early 1960s, a statewide campaign — boosted by coins collected from Alabama schoolchildren — raised the money to bring her to Mobile. She arrived in 1964, and the memorial park opened to the public in January 1965.