Rusted Sky

That when visited, you simply have a hard time processing the experience.

Of course, for those who actually served on the U.S.S. Alabama, they're probably shaking their heads at what a state of disrepair it's fallen into. Although it's pretty well kept up for a civilian work, as far as the military goes there's not much at all that's still functional about it. It's the difference between something that's used every day and something that's been gutted and turned into a static museum piece. (Which is, of course, what the U.S.S. Alabama is at this point.)

I remember visiting this close to 40 years ago, when it wasn't yet moved to Mobile Bay. There weren't many people visiting it then, and thanks to car trouble I had several hours to wander through it. The ship seems a bit smaller in spots than it did to my 12-year old self, especially some of the hatches! (LOL!) But some of the areas are in better shape now than they were then - and it's a bit easier to appreciate just how complex the workings and structure of a battleship are - especially when you're trying to understand it as a floating city maintaining 2700 people along with being an operational firing platform for 16" guns (which had armor piercing shells that could pierce 16 inches of armor at 42,000+ yards. (Over 23 miles.) All of it done without computers (as we know them today)...

I try to imagine what daily life must have been like. We wandered through the galley, saw the heads and the berthing areas (and this is the first time I've seen a trough toilet in anything other than an archeological setting - though I suppose what we were doing could be referred to as military archeology....) storerooms and offices, not to mention the battle bridge, photo studios, radio rooms, clinic and Marine quarters. As a museum it's pretty effective - in that you can ALMOST imagine what it must be like with hundreds of men on board and the ship actually under way - but maybe I was just feeling the echos of the people who lived and sweated in this floating marvel.

It's rather saddening to me at times that it seems our greatest advancements come from times of war, and that our greatest ingenuity seems to be expended on warfare and making engines of destruction that surpass those that have come before - if not in sheer destructive power then in selective accuracy... But then, I think of what would have happened if we HADN'T been quite so... inventive. Sadly, human nature is not something that can be changed through simple slogans (if it could, Communism would have become a viable means of government) and there will always be those who would or will prey on those who are not as powerful on the world scene.

And there will need to be someone to stop them. We have in the past... and we need to be ready to do so again in the future. Simply bending over and spreading them doesn't get reduced aggression, and anyone who thinks so is a fool.

J.