USS Alabama - Definition and Overview

There have been at least six United States Navy or United States Revenue Cutter Service ships named Alabama, after the southern state of Alabama.

• The first Alabama was a 74-gun ship of the line, started in 1818, though never completed as such. She was eventually launched in 1864 as the storeship New Hampshire.
• The first ship completed as Alabama was a 56 ton Revenue Cutter built at New York in 1819. She captured more than a dozen slavers and pirates, and sold off in 1833.
• The second Alabama was the first US Navy ship christened Alabama. She was a sidewheel steamer transferred to the Navy in 1849 that served as a troop transport during the Mexican-American War.
• The third Alabama was a sidewheel steamer merchant vessel that was commissioned in 1861 during the American Civil War. She served as a troop and cargo transport.
• The fourth Alabama (BB-8) was a pre-dreadnought battleship commissioned in 1900 and scrapped in 1924.
• The fifth Alabama (BB-60) was a dreadnought battleship commissioned 1942 and converted to a museum ship in 1964.
• The sixth Alabama (SSBN-731) is an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.

There was also a Confederate States Navy ship named Alabama, the CSS Alabama, a sloop-of-war.