The USS Alabama, anchored in Mobile Bay, on Thursday, June 20, 2024. The USS Alabama is the star attraction at Battleship Memorial Park. (Margaret Kates/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) —The USS Alabama, which has long stood guard in the Mobile Bay, has a new deck.
“What a great honor for Alabama to continue to host and maintain this hero of the Second World War,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said during the ribbon cutting Thursday. “Alabamians are again united in pride as we unveil a major renovation to this beloved symbol of patriotism and America’s greatest generation.”
On Thursday, state officials, including Ivey, unveiled a new, 22,000 square-foot teak deck on the ship, the premier attraction of Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile. The deck replaces the original teak deck, which had fallen into disrepair over the 80 years of the ship’s existence.
The new deck was made with teak imported from Myanmar, from the same forests as the wood from the original deck, Chris Dunning, construction manager at Youngblood-Barrett Construction & Engineering, which installed the new deck, said. It took around six months to ship the new teak to the United States. The planks for the new deck are one inch thick, compared to the original planks, which were 2-2.5 inches thick.
Teakdecking Systems in Florida helped design the new deck.
The new teak deck on the USS Alabama at Battleship Memorial Park on Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Mobile, Ala. The new deck is made from the same wood as the original and cost around $8.6 million. (Margaret Kates/TNS)
Importantly, the battleship never closed to the public throughout the nearly three-year long design and installation process. It was very important to the USS Alabama Battleship Commission, which oversees the park, that visitors still have access to the ship, which has received more than 20 million visitors since it opened in 1965.
The total cost for updating the deck was around $8.6 million, Battleship Commissioner Bill Tunnell said. That is a significant reduction from when replacing the deck was first considered in the 1990s, thanks to new design and construction technology, he said.
“If you didn’t know it wasn’t original, you’d never know it wasn’t original,” Tunnell said. “We’ve got one small portion that’s still original, just so we can keep that little commemorative edge there.”
Around 75% of the cost was funded by admissions and sales at the battleship park, including commemorative items made from the original wood from the deck. Around 60% of the wood from the original deck was able to be preserved and resold. More than $190,000 worth of reclaimed material has been sold already, Tunnell said.
The remaining 25% of the cost was funded by appropriations from Ivey, Alabama State Sen. Greg Albritton and other donors.
Construction first began on the ship in 1940. The USS Alabama was deployed in World War II to the north Atlantic in 1943 and later to the south Pacific. The “Mighty A” as it’s sometimes called, led American forces into Tokyo Bay on September 5, 1945.
The ship was set to be scrapped before a group of Alabama residents campaigned to have it memorialized at what was then envisioned as “Veterans Memorial Park,” according to the park’s website.
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