Battleships, a Submarine and a POW...

USS North Carolina

USS Alabama

One of the things we've done while in Pensacola is drive to Mobile, Alabama and visit the Battleship, the USS Alabama, and the Submarine, the USS Drum.



We visited the USS North Carolina in Wilmington in January (although I just realized the visit never made it into a blog post) and, to me, a battleship is a battleship, but Jack wanted to see how the two ships might differ and I'd always wanted to see a submarine, so off we went! Jack found many differences in the battleships (please don't ask me what they were), but all I can tell you is that the signs for the self-tour were laid out much better on the North Carolina than on the Alabama.

USS Drum
Bunks above and below torpedoes

After touring the battleship we went to tour the submarine. I knew they were compact, but this exceeded my expectations. There were bunks packed in everywhere...even among the torpedoes...can't imagine sleeping either above or below a torpedo...and the doors between sections were so small it was hard even for my 5'3" self to get through. There were a few areas where we had to walk sideways in order to navigate through them!

Being able to see the inside of a submarine was very interesting...as long as you aren't claustrophobic!

Before we left, we visited the gift shop. I'm not much for souvenirs but I always like to look and we had the good luck to happen upon a book signing. Former World War II POW Col. Glenn D. Frazier (Ret.) was autographing copies of his book Hell's Guest. I bought a copy for Jack and we thanked the Colonel for his service. Jack finished the book in two days and really enjoyed it and I've added it to my "to read" pile.