USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park

Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama, preserves one of the most impressive collections of military hardware open to the public in the American South. The centerpiece is the USS Alabama (BB-60), a South Dakota-class battleship that served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II and earned nine battle stars. Visitors board the ship via a gangplank and explore multiple decks independently, descending into the engine room, navigating narrow crew quarters, stepping inside the 16-inch gun turrets, and ascending to the navigation bridge for views across Mobile Bay. The ship stretches 680 feet and displaced 35,000 tons when in service — a scale that becomes tangible when moving between its lowest machinery spaces and the main deck. Alongside the battleship floats the USS Drum (SS-228), a Gato-class submarine and one of the best-preserved American fleet submarines of the World War II era, open for self-guided walkthroughs of its torpedo rooms and crew spaces. On the land side, an extensive outdoor aircraft park displays military planes spanning multiple eras, including a B-52 Stratofortress bomber, a Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft, and Vietnam-era fighters and attack planes. An indoor pavilion shelters smaller aircraft and additional military artifacts. The park also contains Vietnam and Korean War memorials, tanks, helicopters, and artillery pieces arranged across a broad outdoor area. Plan two to four hours for the combined exhibits; families with older children often spend closer to three hours. Morning weekday visits avoid school group rushes. Parking on-site is free and ample. The park is managed by a nonprofit and the admission fees directly support preservation of the vessels and aircraft.