Obscure Knowledge

I would guess that I have more mileage in U-Haul trucks than almost anyone who doesn't work for the company. This is because I worked for a small software company that set up booths in oil and gas industry trade shows. We were in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, which is the center of this state's oil industry. But if we wanted to attend the big shows we had a long way to go. I went by U-Haul because somebody had to get the computers there and because I loved driving across the continent. I think I would still love that, if and when the opportunity arose.

So there we were, Alec and myself, driving thus U-Haul to Los Angeles. The day contained two first and so-far-onlies for me. It is so far the only time I've been in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the only time so far I've eaten in a Waffle House restaurant. A third First and Only was about to arise. It arose because of the lack of a table.

Every table and booth in the place was full that morning. Alec and I were in a booth that would have seated four, near the door. An older couple stood at the door, scanning the restaurant with trouble in their eyes.

I looked up and said "Excuse me, but you could sit and have breakfast with us if you didn't mind." So they did.

We got talking. I said "So we're headed to LA to a trade show, driving a U-Haul, of all things. What brings you to Little Rock?"

"Well, I was in the Navy back during the Big One. Wife and I are on our way back home after a reunion with my shipmates, down in Mobile."

"Oh, really? What ship?"

"USS Alabama. They saved her as a museum ship down there. You wouldn't have heard of her."

I smiled quietly. "South Dakota class. Last of the four, I believe. Nine sixteen-inchers in three triple turrets, two forward, one aft. Twenty five-inchers, dual purpose in twin turrets, five on each beam. Lots of light antiaircraft guns, 20s and 40s mainly, and more of those as the war went on. Served in the Atlantic, escorting ships on the Murmansk Run, and then across the Pacific. They were strong ships. Their engines were better than the ones in the North Carolina class that came before. Took less space, so the ships were shorter. That meant they had less space to armor, and more spare tons to armor WITH. The result was they were tough, really tough, maybe the toughest battleships the US ever built. There was only one disadvantage to that. Their hulls were shorter than the North Carolina's, with the same width. That meant they didn't cut through the water so easily. They were a little slower than the North Carolinas were."

He sniffed. "Actually, Alabama was faster than the North Carolinas. I don't know if the other ships in the class were, but we were."

I smiled. "You would know."

It was a very friendly breakfast.

I've often said, as a joke, "It's surprising how seldom technical knowledge about battleships comes up in general conversation." But once, just once, in a first-and-only, it DID. And that was in a Waffle House in Little Rock, Arkansas.

As I recall, the waffles were pretty good too.