When I was a kid growing up in Mobile, Ala. I would look out into the bay and see the mighty USS Alabama, BB-60, sitting there and fantasizing, "boy, Farragut sure would have had his hands full with this thing if Buchanan had it in his inventory. I sure would like to have seen his face if this battleship came steaming down the bay on August 5, 1864 flying the Confederate Naval Ensign! Just one of those 16inch 45's would have turned the USS Hartford to splitters!"

By the way, the 5"/38 was nothing without the Mk 37 Fire Control System. That was a piece of great engineering.

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David Upton