By Graydon Rust Alabama 200
January 29, 1943
The U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Birmingham, a light cruiser of the Cleveland class. Displacing 10,000 tons of water, the Birmingham carried a main armament of four turrets with three six-inch guns and six secondary turrets of dual-mounted five-inch guns and housed a crew of 1,200 that included more than a dozen from the city of Birmingham. The ship saw action in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters of World War II and suffered heavy damage on three occasions – the final time from a kamikaze attack during the Battle of Okinawa. The Birmingham earned nine battle stars for her service and was decommissioned in 1947.
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