USS Alabama and USS Lexington

December, 1981: USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile Bay, Alabama, includes the battleship and other military equipment.

While going through old negatives, I came across a couple rolls of Tri-X film taken during visits to the USS Alabama and USS Lexington. I stopped to visit these ships during a cross country drive from Florida to California in December, 1981.

Launched in 1942, the USS Alabama received nine battle stars during World War II. It was decommissioned in 1947. In 1965, the ship was opened as a museum in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

In 1981, the USS Lexington was the U.S. Navy training aircraft carrier based in Pensacola, Florida. I was able to get a guided tour around the ship. Security was definitely not as tight as today.

The USS Lexington joined the fleet in 1943 and received the Presidential Unit Citation. During World War II, Japan's Tokyo Rose reported the ship sunk on several occasions. Nope, the USS Lexington served with the U.S. Navy until 1991. She served as the training carrier from 1969 until decommissioned.

The aircraft carrier is now a museum ship at the USS Lexington Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas.

I posted about 20 photos in this flickr photo gallery: 1981 Cross Country Trip.

December, 1981: USS Lexington, the U.S. Navy training carrier in Pensacola, Florida.