Texas, On The move

[greybeard]

It finally happened and I was not able to see it in person.
The world's last remaining dreadnaught battleship slipped her moorings yesterday morning near LaPorte and was towed to drydock in Galveston, beginning before daylight.
But, there's always Youtube..
Haze Gray and Underway.
This is her as she passes by the Lynchburg ferry landing where I boarded and crossed the ship channel to visit BB-35 so many times in my life.
(Wish I had taken that sunrise photo!)
Perhaps I'll still be around and can watch her move to her (secret for now) final destination once she comes out of drydock.

 

[Ouachita]

This is not my picture. Saw it posted on another forum.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Does Hurley know these photos are from Mar-A-Lago?

 

[Down in Dixie]

Just found this. So majestic.

 

[greybeard]

USS Texas/BB35 is now out of drydock, is afloat and will be permanently moored at pier 15 in Galveston Texas. May be open for visitation later this year. I hope to see her once more in this lifetime.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Thank you for your service. Tell us about her gunnery.

USS Texas (BB-35) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[backhoeboogie]

In '76 when it was docked at San Jacinto several of us did the complete tour. I was a bus boy at San Jacinto Inn back then. We had several hours between morning and evening shift and decided to do the tour.

 

[greybeard]

I loved that old San Jacinto Inn back in the 60s. The seafood platter was HUGE and pretty cheap too!
I started pretty young visiting it, (the ship and battleground park) and went many many times over the years. My first visit, under one of the 14 inch guns. ..... (yep, about to pee my pants........or maybe i just liked playin with it)



As built in 1914, Texas had
Ten 14 inch x 45 caliber guns in 5 double turrets.
(in Naval artillery, the first number is the bore diameter and caliber # denotes the number of times that diameter is multiplied to get gun barrel length. In other words, Texas main battery guns were 14" in diameter and 45(X14") for a barrel length of 630" or 52ft 5" long. a "5-inch/50-caliber" gun has a bore diameter of 5 inches and a barrel length of 50 times that diameter (250 inches).

twenty one 5"X 51 caliber guns.

two 1 pounder guns mounted high on 2 masts.

Four 21" torpedo tubes

Four 3 pounder saluting guns.

by the end of ww2 her armament had changed to:

10 × 14 in/45 caliber guns 6 × 5 in/51 caliber guns 10 × 3 in/50 caliber gun 10 × quad 40 mm Bofors AA guns 44 × single 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns an undocumented # of hand rail mounted 50 cal browning machine guns for anti aircraft use.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Greybeard Texas took on some action. I remember the tour discussions of hits it had and rebuild/repairs.