MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The mission of preserving history at Battleship Park is expanding to education. A lecture series on “Life At Sea” continues this week with a look at one of the battleship’s biggest projects.

The USS Alabama has a storied history–and one thing that hasn’t changed in much of that time is its deck. This Thursday at 11 is the latest in the Life at Sea Lecture series. It will feature former USS Alabama Battleship Commission Chairman Bill Tunnell discussing the teak deck replacement underway aboard the USS Alabama. The project started last year on the main deck and we showed some of the work being done. It’s being done in sections. They are replacing the old wood deck with new wood instead of a patchwork of metal repair plates. It’s a big project that also helps recreate the feeling on board the ship from 80 years ago.

“The Alabama legislature created the Battleship Commission in 1963 primarily to create a veterans memorial and secondarily to educate the public on the sacrifices of men and women in uniform,” said the Executive Director of Battleship Memorial Park Janet Cobb. “This recalls the days of WWII there are very few of those veterans left but it’s a reminder of that history, the sacrifice of those men and women that came out of primarily the depression, fought in the war, and came back to rebuild as the greatest nation on earth.” Weekly lectures are planned throughout the month. They’ll also talk about the USS Drum and other World War II-era submarines. Another lecture will focus on the difficult, necessary work of a Navy Chaplain.
The Lecture is part of a regular admission to Battleship Park. You can find more information on this week’s lecture here.