Thursday, February 22, 2018

The Hannibal's bell in Hannibal

PUNIC WATCH (TIDBIT): USS Hannibal served in three wars (Danny Henley, Hannibal Courier-Post).
The bell of a ship that saw action in three wars will be the centerpiece of a planned memorial when Hannibal’s riverfront is renovated.

[...]
"Hannibal" in this case is Hannibal Missouri.
[Mary Lynne] Richards [of the Hannibal Parks and Recreation Department] reported to the Park Board during its Thursday, Feb. 15, meeting that the bell had at one time sailed aboard the USS Hannibal (AG-1). It was reportedly one of only a handful of ships to see action in the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II, for which it received a handful of commendations.

Decommissioned for the final time in August 1944, it was sunk in the Chesapeake Bay in March 1945 for use as a bombing target.

“Before they did (sink the Hannibal) they took the bell off of it and sent it to the city of Hannibal, although it was not named for the city, but the general,” said Richards, referring to Hannibal Barca, a Carthaginian general known for leading an army that featured elephants across southern Europe and the Alps Mountains against Rome in the Second Punic War. “It’s kind of neat that we got this bell.”
Indeed.

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