- [Speaker] Many countries were fighting to control large parts of the world in the 1940s in a conflict that is known as the Second World War.

The United States became involved when Japan attacked America's battleships in Hawaii at a place called Pearl Harbor.

At the time, battleships were considered to be the most important ships in the Navy and America would build many more battleships, including the U.S.S.

Alabama and use them to help win the war.

Let's go aboard the U.S.S.

Alabama and find out what life was like on a World War II battleship.

The U.S.S.

Alabama was one of eight battleships that were built during World War II.

Three of these were identical to the Alabama, the U.S.S.

South Dakota, Indiana, and Massachusetts and are considered sister ships.

These ships fought against the Germans, Japanese, and the Italians.

Today, you can visit the U.S.S.

Alabama in Mobile to walk back in time and see what it was like to serve on a battleship during the Second World War.

It was like living in a city in the 1940s.

What happens if you're on a battleship fighting in World War II and you have to have your tonsils removed?

Well, you go visit the doctor on the battleship.

What happens if someone committed a crime on the ship?

They would be put in the jail or as it's called in the Navy, the Brig.

Over 2,500 men served as the crew of the Alabama which spent most of its time during World War II at sea, so everything the crew needed to live had to be on the ship.

There was a post office, which was one of the most popular places on the ship, as it was the only way to get news about what was happening back home, a hospital, and several cafeterias called galleys, much of the staff for the galleys consisted of African American sailors who, because of segregation were prevented from serving as officers on the ship.

Nevertheless, they showed their patriotism by doing whichever job best served to keep the U.S.S.

Alabama running, and keeping things running required a lot of coffee.

I mean a lot of coffee.

Each time they fired up the coffee makers called Coppers, they pumped out 320 gallons, which is about 5,000 cups of coffee.

People drank a lot of coffee to stay awake during long shifts of work.

There was not much room to sleep on the ship.

When your shift at work was over, where did you sleep?

Since the battleship was built to fight a war, a lot of space was taken up by all of its guns, leaving very little room for places where sailors could sleep.

Although space was tight, bunks were stacked up which gave every sailor on the Alabama a place to sleep.

Unfortunately, this was not the case with many Navy ships, especially small ships.

In fact, the lack of space and bunks on some ships forced sailors to take turns using the same bunks.

One sailor would work while the other slept in the bunk.

When they swapped places, the hot, sweaty mattress was flipped over to the cool side.

This was called hot bunking.

Hot bunking is teamwork.

Everything on the ship took teamwork.

It took teamwork to turn the ship.

Turning the ship was not as easy as turning a car.

Captain George Wilson, the Alabama's commanding officer would order the ships rudder to be moved by turning what looks to be one of the world's largest steering wheels and the ship would start to turn, but unlike your school bus, the Alabama did not have a gas pedal.

Here in the engine room sailors would have to move steam through these pipes, making sure they turned the right wheel to make the ship speed up, slow down, or move backwards.

For the steam to generate enough power to turn the propellers, it had to be superheated to 750 degrees.

It was dangerous!

Working around pipes that carry superheated steam was super dangerous, but danger came in many forms.

Facing these dangers was an example of patriotism in action.

As the Alabama was a warship, at any minute it could be attacked and everyone had three minutes to get to their battle stations.

If you happened to be in the shower when an enemy attack began, you might be shooting at enemy planes wearing nothing but a towel.

The Alabama participated in a lot of combat in the Pacific Ocean during the war.

It used its large guns to shoot at enemy troops on various islands, but it was the smaller, anti-aircraft guns that battled against aircraft trying to attack the Alabama directly, the decisive battle of the Philippine Sea.

The Alabama helped fight off waves of planes and contributed to over 500 aircraft.

The Japanese lost during that one battle.

There is still a bullet hole in one of the anti-aircraft walls.

Was it made by a Japanese bullet or by one of the Alabama's overly excited sailors, possibly wearing only a towel.

Even the weather tried to sink the Alabama.

Besides enemy aircraft, the other big danger to the Alabama were typhoons, also called tropical cyclones.

They're like a tornado at sea.

In 1944, the Alabama sailed through Typhoon Cobra, which saved three other ships in the fleet.

So if it wasn't bad enough that you might have to fight the enemy wearing only a towel, you might have to try and eat your chicken dinner in the middle of a cyclone.

Sailors eating dinner would have to hold onto the dinner table with one hand and when the ship rocked them toward their plate, they would take a big bite.

When it rocked them away, they would eat.

Sounds like a recipe for seasickness.

School children saved the Alabama.

Although the Alabama survived the war, by 1962 the Navy decided to cut her up and sell the parts for scrap, but the state of Alabama decided it wanted to save the battleship as a way to remember the Alabamians that served our country in times of war.

So the Navy donated the battleship to the state of Alabama, but told Alabama, "You'll have to tow the battleship from Washington State to Alabama," and that would cost around $1 million, which in today's money is about $9 million.

The state of Alabama didn't have enough money so school children chipped in their lunch money to help raise enough to move the Alabama from Washington through the Panama Canal to Mobile, Alabama.

Kids that chipped in received a membership card to the U.S.S.

Alabama Museum.

Today the U.S.S.

Alabama lives in Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama.