Battleship Park, Mobile, AL, home of the USS Alabama (BB60) & USS Drum (SS228), is closed. Here is the statement from their website…
Tuesday, Aug 30, 2005
BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL PARK CLOSED INDEFINITELY
USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park will be closed indefinitely due to the devasting effects of Hurricane Katrina which “visited” the Park on Monday, August 29, 2005.
All Overnight group stays and all social functions are canceled until further notice. Park officials will be contacting those scheduled groups as soon as basic utilities and telephone service are restored.
Park officials regret taking these actions, and hope repair efforts, although massive, will be quickly effected.
We drove over to Daphne so the kids could visit their grandmother today. On the way over I shot these photos of the ‘Bama using a digital camera with telephoto capability.
Friends, our battleship is sitting there in the mud with about a 10 degree list to port. I couldn’t get a look at the USS Drum nor any of the other military equipment other than the “heavies” in the pics. No clue how the planes fared.
The causeway, where the park resides, remains closed and Mobile County remains under a “dusk-to-dawn” curfew until further notice. With the extensive damage everywhere along the Gulf Coast we can expect it to be quite some time before once again Veterans, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren walk those old decks. The Park is my son’s favorite place around here – even over the beach!
Ok. There is a huge amount of Naval history in this park. Hell, there’s a lot of the history of all branches are in that park. Damage from last year’s hurricane “Ivan” was still being repaird when “Katrina” struck us this vicious blow. Visit the USS Alabama website. There you can find all of the contact info and facts concerning the park and the equipment therein.
I’m asking each Vet out there that reads this blog to consider sending just $10 dollars to the Park for repairs. That’s not much, but it will add up fast. Together we can save the USS Alabama, the USS Drum, and the Park itself. In fact, we can make them better than before! No, the Park has not asked me to promote their cause. I’m doing this own my own because it is important to me, and I’m sure it is as just as important to many other Vets. (And for Heaven’s sake, don’t try to send any donations to me! Send those only to the Park officials!) I know with all of the request for aid coming in to every home it is hard to consider sending cash down to repair old military hardware and monuments to men & woman long dead. Still, we owe those long dead heros these monuments so that their sacrifices are never forgotten – even in the face of newer loss and sorrow.
UPDATE!: I spoke with the officials at the park at 1645 hours today to “officially” request permission to push for donations and to add links to their site. (A bit after the fact, but they were ok with it…) Anyhoo, the Battleship Commission is in dire need of assistance and will happily accept any help this Nation’s Veterans &/or Active Duty Personnel can give. They have a webpage devoted to how others can help. It can be found here. Never fear, all you other folk! The Battleship Commission will need help from ALL Americans. We’re talking about a fair chunck of change here. There was far more damage than what I could see or has been reported by the media. Please, join in our cause!
Help Save the ‘Bama!
Omar, out!
I drug my dear wife to the “Bama this past week (Friday 5 October 2006) while we were on a much need mini-vacation.
I did all three tours that were available, above decks and below. I have many j-pegs to share with you to document the damage to the facilities as well as heart-breaking damage to every single aircraft on site. They are going to be beyond salvage unles something is done!
The Bama it’self, well, it’s a battleship….what can you say? There were no apparent damage topside. Below decks, well that’s a different story. The salt air is wreeking havoc down there. In one area where telecom lines come into the ship, there is no caulking, weahter “stuff” present, just some freakin whole bored into the hull. She’s in bad need of scrapping and painting.
If you are monitoring your blog, send me a note, I’d love to send you the images of the aircraft.
SGT Steve Bilyeu,
Tennessee State Guard
2RT MP Platoon Leader
and Telecommunications Analyst.
NASHVILLE TN.