Initial debate over whether to build a new low-freeboard design like the Indiana-class battleships in service or a higher-freeboard vessel like Iowa (then under construction) led to a decision to adopt the latter type.

The mixed secondary armament of 6 and 8 in (152 and 203 mm) guns of previous classes was standardized to just 6-inch weapons to save weight and simplify ammunition supplies.

As was standard for capital ships of the period, Alabama carried four 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes in deck mounted launchers.

On the 27th, Alabama steamed south for the Gulf of Mexico, where she joined the rest of the North Atlantic Squadron for training exercises off Pensacola, Florida.

[3] In August 1901, while the North Atlantic Squadron conducted target practice off of Nantucket Island, Alabama experienced an outbreak of mumps and was placed in quarantine, unable to participate.

The only interruption came in 1904, when she, the battleships Kearsarge, Maine, and Iowa, and the protected cruisers Olympia, Baltimore, and Cleveland made a visit to southern Europe.

Toward the end of September, Alabama went into dry dock at the League Island Navy Yard for repairs, which were completed by early December.

[5] Alabama's next significant action was the cruise of the Great White Fleet around the world, which started with a naval review for President Theodore Roosevelt in Hampton Roads.

The press in both countries began to call for war, and Roosevelt hoped to use the demonstration of naval might to deter Japanese aggression.

The ship could not keep up with the fleet due to a cracked cylinder head, which necessitated repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard.

The battleship Maine also left the fleet, as her boilers had proved to be badly inefficient, requiring excessive amounts of coal.

[8] On 8 June, Alabama and Maine began their crossing of the Pacific independently, via Honolulu, Hawaii, Guam, and Manila in the Philippines.

They then cruised south to Singapore in August and crossed the Indian Ocean, stopping in Colombo, Ceylon, and Aden on the Arabian peninsula on the way.

The ships then steamed through the Mediterranean, stopping only in Naples, Italy, before calling at Gibraltar and then proceeding across the Atlantic in early October.

They stopped in the Azores before arriving off the east coast of the United States on 19 October; the two ships then parted company, with Alabama steaming to New York, while Maine went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The ships of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet—which included eight other battleships and three cruisers—were kept in service with reduced crews that could be fleshed out with naval militiamen and volunteers in the event of an emergency.

On 25 July, Alabama was temporarily placed in full commission for service with the Atlantic Fleet during the summer training exercises, before returning to reserve status on 10 September.

Two days later, Alabama became the flagship of the 1st Division, Atlantic Fleet, and for the rest of the war she continued her training mission of the east coast of the United States.

On 11 November, Germany signed the Armistice that ended the fighting in Europe; Alabama continued training naval recruits, though at a reduced level of intensity.

A summer training cruise for midshipmen from the US Naval Academy followed; Alabama departed Philadelphia on 28 May bound for Annapolis, where she arrived the next day.

The blast broke her anchor chains, and the battered ship began to drift toward the wrecks of San Marcos and Indiana, the latter having been sunk in bombing tests earlier that year.

[3] Mitchell attempted to use the sinking as evidence of the predominance of the bomber in his efforts to secure an independent air force, though the Navy pointed out that the ship was stationary, undefended, unmanned, and was not protected with the latest "all or nothing" armor scheme.

The Navy sold the salvage rights to the wrecks of ex-Alabama, ex-Indiana, and ex-San Marcos to Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation of New York for $10,600.

[13] In July 1925 officials of Union Shipbuilding Company of Baltimore Maryland made an inspection cruise of ex-Alabama to consider the feasibility of salvage.

Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis approved the transaction and granted permission for Union Shipbuilding to raise and remove ex-Alabama on 23 April 1926.