Day 61 - November 13, 2012: Touring Mobile

Today we rented a car and invited Joel and Debby (on cruiser Water Music) to join us on a tour of Mobile. Our first stop was the Battleship Memorial Park, where the battleship USS Alabama, the submarine USS Drum, and many combat aircraft are on display. There is much to see, and you could easily spend all day at this park.

The USS Alabama went into service in 1942, and served in both the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns. She was a mighty ship built to fight and armed with nine 16-inch guns, twenty 5-inch guns, ten twin mounted .38 caliber guns, and more. She could fire shells as heavy as a small car accurately for over 20 miles and defend herself from attacking planes, ships and submarines.

By comparison:

• The Alabama weighed 45,000 tons and burned 7 tons of fuel per hour at a cruising speed of 15 knots. 
• Our Great Laker weighs 10 tons and burns 2 gallons of fuel per hour at a cruising speed of 8.5 knots. 

Battleship USS Alabama

Six of the nine 16-inch guns

We also toured the USS Drum, where I went directly to the command center and took over as captain. For some reason, she wouldn't respond to my "Dive, dive" command.

Wannabe Captain Larry

After a late but great seafood lunch and a piece of key lime pie at Ed's on the causeway, we toured The Richards DAR House Museum. This is a Victorian townhouse of Italianate architecture built in 1860. We enjoyed a guided tour of the residence, built by a steamboat captain and mercantile businessman Charles Richards. This home contains furnishings authentic to the period, and the tour guides were very informative.

The Richards DAR House

Anne and Debby enjoying the artifacts

For dinner, we went to Wintzell's Oyster House for more of Mobile's wonderful seafood. Anne and I split a sixteen oyster sampler and wished there were more.