MOBILE, Alabama -- The Battleship USS Alabama made its way into Mobile Bay on Sept. 14, 1964 but the trip here was not all smooth sailing.

News that the war ship would be scrapped inspired a battleship commission and statewide campaign through which the community funded the ship's voyage. The USS Alabama made its way from its docking in Bremerton, Wash., down the West Coast towed by two tugboats, one of which sank and claimed the lives of two men. The ship also had to dodge two hurricanes before arriving at its new home.

It all started with a May 1, 1962 newspaper article in the Mobile Register that said the South Dakota class of the U.S. Navy's battleships would be scrapped, according to Battleship Memorial Park Executive Director Bill Tunnell.

The South Dakota class included the USS South Dakota, USS Indiana, USS Massachusetts and the USS Alabama. The ships were considered as being in the mothball fleet, which had been inactive for years.

Henri Aldridge, then an attorney at International Paper Co.; Stephens Croom, an insurance agency owner at that time; Jimmie Morris, then an employee at the Mobile Chamber of Commerce; and John Tyson Sr., then serving in the state Legislature, were the leaders in the creation of the committee that would bring the USS Alabama to Mobile.

The Alabama was commissioned in 1942 and served about three years throughout World War II. In 1947 she was decommissioned and put on reserve duty, and in 1962 was declared of no further use to the Navy.

John Tyson was flying in and out of Brookley Field in the Navy reserves prior to his time in the state Legislature and had frequently spoken with tower operator Jimmie Morris.

Morris left the Air Force and began work at the Chamber while Tyson worked in state Legislature.

Morris and others saw the article about the Battleship Alabama set to be scrapped. He made a few phone calls and all resolved to bring the Alabama to Mobile.

"We sat over at the Battle House and said 'Let's do it,'" Tyson said.

The battleship committee approached the then-Gov. John Patterson, and Patterson formed a feasibility committee to see what could be done.

"The Navy had given its tentative acceptance that 'if you can raise the money to bring the ship to Mobile and display it, then you can have the ship,' " Tunnell said.

Under then-Gov. George Wallace and after much effort headed by then Mobile state Rep. Robert Edington and Tyson, legislation was written that created the USS Alabama Battleship Commission. The bill passed on Sept. 12, 1963, and the fundraising campaign kicked off in the spring of 1964.

The commission, made up of 18 military veterans, initiated a unique statewide campaign. If school children contributed any amount of money toward bringing the battleship to Alabama, they received a ticket signed by Gov. Wallace allowing free admission to see the battleship once it arrived.

Tunnell said the ticket was valid as long as Wallace was governor. About 300,000 tickets were issued, and the school children alone raised almost $100,000.

"In 1964, the minimum wage was $1 an hour and you could buy a Cadillac for about $3,000, so that was a huge amount of money," Tunnel said.

"That was a one-of-a-kind campaign. Nobody to my knowledge has done that before or since."

In all, $800,000 was collected to bring the battleship to Mobile Bay.

Once the Navy gave permission to transfer the ship to the state of Alabama, a document was signed by Capt. James Thwing, who Tunnell described as the project's "boots on the ground" representative. Thwing was located in Seattle, just across Puget Sound from Bremerton where the ship was docked.

Thwing, a retired Navy captain, assisted in the preparation of the ship to be towed from Bremerton.

Also following the Navy's approval, construction of Battleship Park began on the Causeway.

Tunnell said the legislation to allow the ship to be transferred to Alabama had to sit before Congress for 60 consecutive days. If there was no exception taken or no reason to not transfer the ship, then the legislation would be passed or enacted.

"Easter came during that time so it interrupted the 60 consecutive days," Tunnell said. "This took the deadline past June 1, which was very important because the Navy says you have to take possession and you need to bring the ship through the Gulf of Mexico before hurricane season."

The Navy relented on that requirement despite hurricane fears, and the battleship left its port in Bremerton on July 21, 1964.

As the USS Alabama was making its way to Mobile Bay, one of the two tugs that were pulling the ship sank off the coast of southern California. The incident claimed the lives of two men, but Tunnell said the insurance had been written so well that the next morning another tug arrived to complete the transfer.

As the ship continued on its journey, it had to take shelter in the Panama Canal for about two weeks in August because the threat of hurricanes became a reality. Two hurricanes threatened the Gulf during the vessel's travels.

After the storms passed, the USS Alabama came into Mobile Bay on Sept. 14.

In late September, after 2.9 million cubic yards of dirt was dredged off the bottom of Mobile Bay, the ship was brought in to Battleship Memorial Park, which officially opened Jan. 9, 1965.

During its first year, Battleship Park brought in 391,000 visitors -- a number that has not since been exceeded.

"It's a great American story and it's here for all of the right reasons and it continues to be successful for all of the right reasons," Tunnell said.

Tunnell said that to this day, people still come to him with their tickets from the 1964 campaign in hand. "I'm 68 now and was a senior in high school then. I've never been anywhere in the state over the last twenty-something years that I've been representing the Battleship that I haven't been somewhere and somebody, age 68 to about 55, hadn't raised their hand and said 'I still got my ticket."

From 1965 throughout 2004 Tunnell said the ticket office received a minimum of 50 donor cards each year, and people are still turning them in.