The last Dreadnought

[Kiwi cop]

I’m not so sure that I speak for Karen but, for me, one of the highlights to our Houston visit in 2018 was a tour of the USS Texas, the last remaining Dreadnought.

What was special for me was the realisation that while my father served in the Royal Navy and aboard Cruisers during WW2 he would have been familiar with ships of the Texas’s era. I saw most of the ship though his eyes.

I was really looking forward to a return visit, hopefully taking some other Kiwi visitors along too.

Then a year or so ago we were in Auckland for one of Karen’s medical reviews. We returned to our motel room after dinner to find the TV on the History channel recounting a famous WW2 sea battle. To understand how a Dreadnought had been sunk the documentary maker went aboard the Texas to show examples of the layout. I recognised the ship as soon as it was shown.

It took me a while to get round to putting together all the video from that day, and then I lost my computers hard drive so had to do it all again. A few weeks ago I managed to get the video up on YouTube.

Then this morning I received a comment. The Texas has been towed away to be repaired and then dry berthed somewhere else. Apparently it’s presence is no longer wanted by the powers that be in Harris County.

I hope that she finds a home nearby. This is a part of history that needs preserving.

 

[rockquarry]

I've toured the Texas, but it was a long time ago. They've had all sorts of problems and huge expenses over many years trying to maintain the ship. It occasionally makes headlines because of that.

I had not heard it was moved.

 

[jeffsmith]

At the present I believe the plan is to Berth it near Galveston TX
Not too far from where it was when you saw it

Battleship Updates - The Battleship Texas Foundation

 

[Delta Expatriate]

I have seen it, and been aboard twice - both times back in the sixties (before I finished high school), while visiting relatives in nearby Beaumont., I started to stop by and see it again, back in 2013, when I was visiting some friends in Houston, but I was by myself, and did not want to get lost in Houston traffic. As best I remember, it is (or was) near the San Jacinto memorial sight. I hope it finds a good home, and I can visit it again.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Strictly speaking the USS Texas is the last WWI battleship in existence, since Jackie Fisher's launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 made all the pre-dreadnought battleships obsolete and started a naval arms race. The Iowa class battleships follow the Dreadnaught pattern as modified by us-turrets in a straight line, super firing turrets, no wing turrets.

 

[Kiwi cop]

At the present I believe the plan is to Berth it near Galveston TX
Not too far from where it was when you saw it

Battleship Updates - The Battleship Texas Foundation

Galveston would be the logical place for her.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

The Texas is well liked and will stay in the area, as with all things, the people who foot the bill for the rest of the needed money will decide exactly where. It was an annual event of my son's cub scout troop to sleep on the Texas that that we always looked forward to. There have been numerous well attended charity events and auctions to help pay for the repairs, and the Texas has a corps of dedicated volunteers second to none. Galveston has a naval museum that already has a Gato submarine and a Edsall class destroyer Escort.

PS: My daughter went one year and slept with the cub scout mothers and she said that all they did all night was complain about their husbands. Imagine that!

 

[Whit]

Hello Kiwi Cop. Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Battleship Texas. For many years we lived on the north side of the Houston Ship Channel about two miles from where the Texas is berthed. I’ve been aboard many times as a child and adult.

The plan is to put the ship in dry dock to repair the hull beneath the water line. She is taking on water almost faster than it can be pumped out. About 20 years ago she was towed to Galveston for repairs and returned to her berth at the San Jacinto Battleground. The last time I was by the park she was still berthed. There is a fear that she will sink in transit to dry dock, this blocking the Houston Ship Channel. There have been several plans floated (pun intended) to assure she can make the trip safely.

Where she will be docked once repairs are complete is still up in the air. As others have stated, Galveston is one option. The city of Baytown, several miles down the ship channel is working on a plan to have the Texas docked near the Fred Hartman Bridge that crosses the channel. It is probably safe to say the Texas will not return to the berth at San Jacinto where she has been since about 1948.

A bit of trivia. The Texas served in WWI and WWII. In WWII she served in both the Atlantic and the Pacific seeing action in major campaigns in both oceans. Given that record of service, how many battle deaths would you think she incurred? The answer is one. A shell exploded below the upper wheel house causing the steel floor to peel inward which cut off the legs of the helmsman who later died. The Texas was a lucky lady in battle.

Hope you can come again in the future. And from one former cop to another, thanks for your service.

 

[LVSteve]

When it comes to salt water vs iron and steel, it takes a lot of money and effort to prevent the water winning. My dad nearly got brained by falling metal on the Queen Mary...in June 1966.

When my wife and I were down in the empty boiler rooms in 2019, there was water in odd places. That got me thinking about how hard they drove her in the North Atlantic in heavy weather, like when I was on her in December 1966. Sprung plates, anyone?

 

[Kiwi cop]

Hello Kiwi Cop. Glad you enjoyed your visit to the Battleship Texas. For many years we lived on the north side of the Houston Ship Channel about two miles from where the Texas is berthed. I’ve been aboard many times as a child and adult.

The plan is to put the ship in dry dock to repair the hull beneath the water line. She is taking on water almost faster than it can be pumped out. About 20 years ago she was towed to Galveston for repairs and returned to her berth at the San Jacinto Battleground. The last time I was by the park she was still berthed. There is a fear that she will sink in transit to dry dock, this blocking the Houston Ship Channel. There have been several plans floated (pun intended) to assure she can make the trip safely.

Where she will be docked once repairs are complete is still up in the air. As others have stated, Galveston is one option. The city of Baytown, several miles down the ship channel is working on a plan to have the Texas docked near the Fred Hartman Bridge that crosses the channel. It is probably safe to say the Texas will not return to the berth at San Jacinto where she has been since about 1948.

A bit of trivia. The Texas served in WWI and WWII. In WWII she served in both the Atlantic and the Pacific seeing action in major campaigns in both oceans. Given that record of service, how many battle deaths would you think she incurred? The answer is one. A shell exploded below the upper wheel house causing the steel floor to peel inward which cut off the legs of the helmsman who later died. The Texas was a lucky lady in battle.

Hope you can come again in the future. And from one former cop to another, thanks for your service.

I picked up John C Fergusson's book on the Texas's history while I was there and read it cover to cover. SHe really is an interesting ship.

 

[skeezix]

I toured it 60 years ago. At that time I didn't appreciate its history.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Sounds like she was a lucky ship. The first USS Texas (1892)-our first battleship- was known as "Old Hoodoo" due to various mishaps in construction, dry dock, etc.

 

[Justin T]

I have visited the Texas often, but have not been in a few years.

She was considered a lucky ship indeed, with only one combat fatality to her credit, and few wounded, while participating in most of the famous engagements during war 2. She was a ship that experienced many “firsts”, including addition of anti-aircraft guns, early fire control computers, and even was the first US ship to successfully launch aircraft. Today, her engines are considered national engineering landmarks, and as I recall are the largest triple expansion engines in existence.

During her time shelling the German emplacements on D-Day and later, she was found to have a shorter range than some of the other ships on the line, even at maximum gun elevation. I guess we had started moving inland by that time. In order to compensate, tanks were flooded on the seaward side of the ship to create an intentional list, thus raising the maximum elevation a bit further.

She hasn’t been moved yet, I don’t believe. I am skeptical of the proposed method, personally, and hope the buoyancy effects of the expanding foam are helped by flotation bags. I fear for the Texas, and wish people understood why she was berthed at San Jac in the first place.