The Battleship That Fought To Save The Philippines - The USS Alabama

Pea visits the USS Alabama battleship memorial in Mobile, Alabama on the Fourth of July, guided by her friend Robert, a 12-year Navy veteran who served on the USS Enterprise and USS Eisenhower as both enlisted and officer. The tour covers the ship's weaponry, living quarters, and operational details, while Pea connects the ship's history to the liberation of her hometown of Tacloban during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

The USS Alabama's history and significance ​

• South Dakota-class battleship, 35,000 tons, nicknamed the "Mighty A," the "Big A," and the "Lucky A"
• Participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf
• On October 20, 1944, it helped drive Japanese forces from the Philippines
• Pea connects this personally — the battle raged through her hometown of Tacloban (she's made a previous video about it)
• She frames the visit as paying respects and witnessing "a tangible reminder of the bond between our two nations"
• The Battle of Leyte Gulf cost 7,000 American sailors and 16,000 soldiers their lives

The 16-inch guns ​

• Fire 2,700-pound shells — more than the weight of most cars
• Range of 21-23 miles; Robert contextualizes this by noting you can only see about 3 miles to the horizon at sea level, so multiply that by seven
• Loading process: the shell goes in, then six 110-pound bags of gunpowder are stuffed in behind it
• Pea jokes that the gun is big enough to "stuff you in and shoot you like Wile E. Coyote" — Robert calls it a "Pea-shooter"
• Battleships were designed with "balanced armor" — enough to withstand a hit from their own caliber shells without penetration
• Pea's joke about being penetrated by a 16-inch: "Girls usually have a better sense of these things"

Tour of the ship's interior ​

• Ammunition and powder rooms with watertight doors to prevent flooding if the ship is damaged
• Targeting board — a mechanical apparatus for calculating firing solutions before computers existed, incorporating wind speed, ship speed, gyroscope data, and position
• Officer and crew berthing: junior officers (O1-O3) share staterooms in pairs; lieutenant commander (O4) and above typically get their own room; the captain has an entire floor with his own mess and assistant
• Warrant officers (W1-W4) explained as the middle ground between enlisted and commissioned — specialists doing things like helicopter piloting rather than normal officer duties
• Cleaning stations: every morning 6:00-6:30 a.m., the entire crew cleans the ship — no cleaning staff, no women aboard at all ("sausage party")
• Mess hall, post office, ship store, chapel with an interfaith chaplain running multiple services
• Casualty power system: when battle damage knocks out electrical circuits, temporary cables are run from powered areas to unpowered ones; cables must be looped before plugging in so water doesn't run down into connections and electrocute shipmates or trip breakers
• Robert shares that he did this as an enlisted electrician/nuclear technician in the Navy and that climbing the steep ladders ruined his knees

The bridge and battle bridge ​

• Weather deck (exposed bridge) — personnel don't wear their covers (hats) because wind blows them into the water, someone sees it floating, assumes a man overboard, and they'd have to launch rigid-hull inflatable boats and helicopters
• Battle bridge/conning station — the armored command center with walls thicker than a bank vault; tiny slits for visibility to keep bullets out
• Contains steering controls and engine bell orders
• The captain's bridge is separate and positioned for a perfect view of the big guns firing — "probably why they put it here"
• Ship-wide communication via phone circuits from the bridge to other parts of the ship

Naval traditions and culture Robert explains ​

• Permission to come aboard: everyone must request permission from the officer of the deck — except the commanding officer, who just announces "I'm coming aboard" and a gong rings with the ship name
• Saluting: when you get your first salute as a new officer, you pick someone to give it to you; you have to salute first as a senior rank, and the junior doesn't drop their salute until the senior drops theirs
• Challenge coins: officers give them to enlisted for exceptional performance; Robert gives Pea a USS Enterprise challenge coin
• COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) aircraft for mail: you sit facing backward, which is disorienting during takeoff and landing
• Red lighting at night so the ship can't be spotted from a distance

Historical and cultural tangents ​

• Pea and Robert discuss Japanese soldiers hiding in Philippine forests long after the war ended, refusing to believe it was over — Robert connects this to the kamikaze mentality
• Pea explains harakiri as an "Asian thing" — the shame of losing face being worse than death
• They discuss alternate-history shows (The Man in the High Castle, Sliders) imagining Japanese/German victory — Pea finds the image of Americans using yen and bowing to Japanese bizarre
• They spot a map showing "Formosa" (Taiwan) — both declare "it's a country" directed at China
• Pea finds an expired Snickers bar on display and jokes it's "like when you hit 40 in the Philippines" — Robert says 30 is stale, 40 is expired
• WWII wartime poster: "Save waste fats for explosives" — Robert jokes "now you know what to do with the grease when you're done frying up the bacon"
• Robert shows Pea memorabilia from the USS Enterprise — a commemorative coin from the 1960 christening and another from the 2012 deactivation ceremony he personally attended, representing "the Alpha and the Omega of the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier"

Robert's background ​

• 12 years in the Navy — first enlisted as a second-class petty officer, then became an officer for 5 more years
• Served on the USS Enterprise and USS Eisenhower
• Was a nuclear electrician (nuclearian) as enlisted
• Present at the deactivation ceremony of the USS Enterprise at Norfolk Naval Station in 2012
• Pea jokes about enlisting herself: "Not that I'm planning to enlist, but maybe that would be my ticket to the US — Petty Officer Pea"

Pea's emotional closing ​

• Stands on the deck and delivers a sincere tribute: "Those big guns helped bring freedom to my country, but not without a savage cost"
• "It's both a privilege and an honor to walk upon these hallowed decks. And I give my deepest thanks to the brave men who gave their lives to protect the Philippines. You will not be forgotten."

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