USS Texas Under Way

[Eric]

For the first time since 1948, the USS Texas is on the move. She is being towed 40 miles to Galveston, TX, for hull repairs. Our very own @Rabbi is on one of the escort vessels accompanying her. Most of these pics are from him. I would love to be on that voyage. As a point of interest, the dreadnought USS Texas, is the last surviving warship to have fought in both World Wars.

 

[Eric]

[Hauptmann6]

5 hours ago, Eric said:

For the first time since 1948, the USS Texas is on the move. She is being towed 40 miles to Galveston, TX, for hull repairs. Our very own @Rabbi is on one of the escort vessels accompanying her. Most of these pics are from him. I would love to be on that voyage. As a point of interest, the dreadnought USS Texas, is the last surviving warship to have fought in both World Wars.

 And the only surviving Dreadnought.

[railfancwb]

Interesting word… Dreadnought

[janice6]

5 minutes ago, railfancwb said:

Interesting word… Dreadnought

Yep!  "Fear Nothing!"

[railfancwb]

3 minutes ago, janice6 said:

Yep!  "Fear Nothing!"

Maybe some things should be feared…

[janice6]

3 minutes ago, railfancwb said:

Maybe some things should be feared…

The British had "faith". Possibly misplaced, but faith nonetheless.

[Eric]

3 minutes ago, railfancwb said:

Maybe some things should be feared…

If the Yamato had ever faced an Iowa class battleship in combat, it would have gotten its ass handed to it. It had big guns, but the Iowa guns were big enough and their fire control systems were far better. They could have engaged the Yamato from much further away and with far greater accuracy than the Yamato was capable of.

[tous]

49 minutes ago, janice6 said:

The British had "faith". Possibly misplaced, but faith nonetheless.

Hood versus Bismark.

Not a good day for the British navy.

To be fair, HMS Hood was a battle cruiser (48,000 ton), not a battleship, though the Bismark, laid down in 1936, displaced about the same.  HMS Hood was laid down during the First World War, 20 years behind in technology.

Both vessels had 15-inch guns, Bismark 8: Hood 4,  and about the same thickness of armor, but again, Hood was 20 years behind the times.  Bismark had a state-of-the-art fire control system; Hood did not.  Despite that, the ships were basically evenly matched.

Hood was only hit by a few of Bismark's shells and the conclusion is that one of them ignited Hood's magazines, thus quickly sinking the ship and dooming nearly the entire crew.

Where we Texans had 'Remember the Alamo!' as our battle cry, the British had, 'Remember the Hood!'

[tous]

In contrast, the USS Texas, laid down in 1911,  has 10, 14-inch guns and would almost be dwarfed by the Hood and  Bismark.

[Eric]

7 minutes ago, tous said:

In contrast, the USS Texas, laid down in 1911,  has 10, 14-inch guns and would almost be dwarfed by the Hood and  Bismark.

Yet, she is still on the surface and they are not. You don't mess with Texas.

[Fog]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

If the Yamato had ever faced an Iowa class battleship in combat, it would have gotten its ass handed to it. It had big guns, but the Iowa guns were big enough and their fire control systems were far better. They could have engaged the Yamato from much further away and with far greater accuracy than the Yamato was capable of.

This is very true. Our navy had fire control drilled into it from the very beginning and it really started to show during the war of 1812. As time went on we made damage control a major point of training. You give your ships deadly accurate fire and teach your people to keep a ship floating after it's been hit and you have a very capable navy that can give better than it gets, and survive to fight another day. During WWII this paid off in spades.

Not sure our navy still has it, it makes me very sad to say. My grandfather was navy in WWII, skippered a LCT in the Pacific. He was proud of our navy.

[railfancwb]

59 minutes ago, Fog said:

This is very true. Our navy had fire control drilled into it from the very beginning and it really started to show during the war of 1812. As time went on we made damage control a major point of training. You give your ships deadly accurate fire and teach your people to keep a ship floating after it's been hit and you have a very capable navy that can give better than it gets, and survive to fight another day. During WWII this paid off in spades.

Not sure our navy still has it, it makes me very sad to say. My grandfather was navy in WWII, skippered a LCT in the Pacific. He was proud of our navy.

When your navy ships run into or get run into by container ships you have issues…

[Eric]

Well, the old girl made it to the drydock in Galveston without any problems. The repairs there should take two years. The ultimate goal is a full restoration of the vessel. I hope they pull it off. People can be really enthusiastic about such undertakings, until they have to start signing checks. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[LostinTexas]

Glad to see the old girl finally getting a facelift. She should live on to inspire and educate. I think I've hit my head on every bulkhead in that ship they would let us go through. Done the same on a lot of others. You think I'd get the hang of it. 

Good reason I was a land lubber sailor.

[Eric]

The ship's hull must be in a sorry state. She has been sitting in that same location, in saltwater, for almost seventy-five years. I imagine that the maintenance she has received has been, at least at times, indifferent. There are bound to be generations of patches welded to other patches. It must be getting damn difficult to find good steel to weld to. I imagine the repairs she will be recieving are going to be extensive. They say that the leaks she has suffered in the past have involved pumping out water at rates as great as 2,000 gallons a minute, at times. 2,000 gallons a minute! With a properly repaired hull under her and some modern hull coating in place, she should be good for a long time to come, with any luck.

[tous]

Just a note, the Texas was assigned to the Atlantic fleet and was docked in Maine on 07 December1941.

[Eric]

Just now, tous said:

Just a note, the Texas was assigned to the Atlantic fleet and was docked in Maine on 07 December1941.

During WWII she managed to fight both Nazi and Japanese forces. She spent time in the North Atlantic in WWI. I think she did mostly blockade and escort duty in WWI and mostly shore bombardment in WWII. She also saw some duty in Mexican waters during the Tampico Affair. She definitely has some miles on her clock.

[Batesmotel]

If you were sitting in sea water for 111 years your ass work have some holes in it too. 

[Huaco Kid]

I heard they found Pee Wee's bicycle in the basement.

[Huaco Kid]

Why don't they drydock these ships for preservation / display?

[gwalchmai]

10 hours ago, railfancwb said:

Interesting word… Dreadnought

I read it was Admiral Jackie Fisher's personal motto - "Fear God and Dread Nought". They had those back when. Mine would have been "Late for Dinner Call Me Not".

[Batesmotel]

1 hour ago, Huaco Kid said:

Why don't they drydock these ships for preservation / display?

Because there is an emotional attachment to having them in the water.

The British have dry docked or land locked a few historic ships and a lot of people were very upset because emotionally they feel while it might preserve the body of the ship, it is killing the spirit of the ship to take it out of the water. 

[Eric]

[LostinTexas]

I Know the USS Texas is a small(ish) ship by today's standards, especially for a Battle Ship, but I am always awe struck to see a ship that size sitting in dry dock, especially like that.

Just wrapping my mind around it is tough.