BB-35 U.S.S. Texas, hero of WW1 and WW2 underway to shipyard

[Popshot]

Yesterday, and old warrior took to the seas. The Battleship Texas BB-35, a 110-year old decorated veteran of two world wars, was towed from her berth at San Jacinto Battleground state historic park to dry dock in Galveston, Texas for much needed repairs. While not under her own power, the 40-mile tow down Galveston Bay was still a stirring sight to behold. The Texas was built in 1912, commissioned in the U.S. Navy from 1914 to 1948.

The Texas is the last of the Dreadnought-class battleships in existence. At the time of her construction, she was the most advanced ship of the kind with ten 14" guns. During WW1, she served as fleet champion and convoy escort. While she was not as big or fast as her WW2 contemporaries, Texas got into the fight, with her big guns supporting amphibious landings in North Africa, Normandy, Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

The state owns the ship, but does not really know what to do with a major historic relic, other than just holding onto it. San Jacinto is the most historic place in Texas, but it is not a tourist draw because the place is surrounded by the huge ship channel with many, many square miles of petro-chem industry, and not popular with tourists. Now, a foundation is charged with finding a way to fund and operate a proper museum ship. After a one-year or longer dry dock job, they will move her to a new location that can attract a large number of tourists and school kids, and the resulting revenue to improve and sustain the old battleship. I have visited this historic ship since childhood, as well as an amazing hard hat tour where we were shown all kinds of areas not accessible to the general public. Sitting on the loading tray and looking into the breech of a 14" gun is something hard to forget. In this age of automation and computer-controlled equipment, learning how hard this crew had to work to load these guns is astounding.

Here are some photos of the transit down Galveston Bay. If you can look past the rusty hull, you can still see the power of the 14" guns.

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[Papa]

Imagine her in line of battle, bristling with AA, surrounded by DDs and DEs. Huge, solid, irreplaceable, ephemeral.

"I am Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

[txroadkill]

It would be awesome to have this ship in Corpus Christi next to the Lexington. But in a way I’d rather it not come here since corpus can’t seem to maintain anything. Perhaps if it was under the care of another entity it would be alright.

[Dorkface]

Now that's a slugger. Built to take major hits while dishing it out.

[Popshot]

As we were looking north to see the first signs of the battleship, she was hidden by the curvature of the earth. The observation crows nest finally appeared as as tiny dot on the horizon. With a little map work, I calculated that, at that first view, the ship was 8.5 to 9 miles away. The range of the 14" guns was 13 miles. That mean the Texas could have obliterated us before she came into view.

[Papa]

Back in the early 80s I worked in Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo. Bremerton is located on what's essentially a fjord. And Bremerton is where the USN repaired, scrapped and laid up ships.

The first time I drove SR 16--which comes up from Tacoma, runs east along the fjord and swings around its end to meet SR 3--I saw them.

Across the gray water.

They stood out from the transports and all smaller vessels and submarines. They were at road level, impossibly long, gray, lethal, immensely powerful.

And as I drove north and east on SR 3, they grew more and more impressive, huge, muscular, monstrous.

Iowa class. BB62 and BB63.

Stand on the Missouri's decks, as I often did, and you saw it and felt it.

The America we love and remember best--the America that bared its mighty arm, built and manned these ships and hundreds more, and slew the dragons that tried to consume the world.

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Sic transit gloria mundi.

[Papa]

Now that's a slugger. Built to take major hits while dishing it out.

Gotta love that short focsle, just enough hull to support the guns, and that reverse stem. It's like a bison, or a boxer with heavy shoulders leaning forward, fists up.

None of the sweep and elegance of the Iowas. This is a Mack truck, not a Cadillac.

[45Smashemflat]

“Excuse me sir, maritime law of gross tonnage. Give way!”

Seems applicable to caliber as well.

[PRC 74]

Looks like they had a good crowd watching the move.

[Francisp]

After going to Pearl Harbor in April, now I know what the Arizona would have looked like sailing.