USS Alabama (BB-8)

Alabama off New York City in 1912
History
United States
Name	Alabama
Namesake	Alabama
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number	290
Laid down	1 December 1896
Launched	18 May 1898
Commissioned	16 October 1900
Decommissioned	7 May 1920
Stricken	Transferred to War Department, 15 September 1921
Fate	Sunk as a target by Army Air Service, 27 September 1921 Sold for scrap, 19 March 1924
General characteristics
Class and type	Illinois-class battleship
Displacement	Normal: 11,565 long tons (11,751 t) Full load: 12,250 long tons (12,450 t)
Length	374 ft (114 m) loa
Beam	72 ft 3 in (22.02 m)
Draft	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Installed power	8 × fire-tube boilers 10,000 ihp (7,500 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Crew	536
Armament	4 × 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns 14 × 6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber guns 16 × 6-pounder guns (57 mm (2.2 in)) 6 × 1-pounder guns (37 mm (1.5 in)) 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 4 to 16.5 in (102 to 419 mm) Turrets: 14 in (356 mm) Barbettes: 15 in (381 mm) Casemates: 6 in (152 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm)

USS Alabama (BB-8) was an Illinois-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy. She was the second ship of her class, and the second to carry her name. Her keel was laid down in December 1896 at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard, and she was launched in May 1898. She was commissioned into the fleet in October 1900. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 13-inch (330 mm) guns and she had a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph).

Alabama spent the first seven years of her career in the North Atlantic Fleet conducting peacetime training. In 1904, she made a visit to Europe and toured the Mediterranean. She took part in the cruise of the Great White Fleet until damage to her machinery forced her to leave the cruise in San Francisco. She instead completed a shorter circumnavigation in company with the battleship Maine. The ship received an extensive modernization from 1909 to 1912, after which she was used as a training ship in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She continued in this role during World War I. After the war, Alabama was stricken from the naval register and allocated to bombing tests that were conducted in September 1921. She was sunk in the tests by US Army Air Service bombers and later sold for scrap in March 1924.