Rare photograph of Dreadnaught Row from Flying Fortress

[CAPFlyer]

Because as with all museum ships, it is no longer part of the US Navy. Ships are somewhat different than airplanes, they're a lot harder to "run away with".

If the Navy did have responsibility, I'm sure those who put up all the money for the USS Midway to be fixed up would like to have a refund.

[whistlingdeath77]

i really hope she gets fixed and gets some tlc soon

[bilwor]

"San Jac Inn, Hillman's, and Gaido's were on the must-do eat list back in the day."

These were also favorites of me and my family. Dive up to Hillman's, park in the oyster shell parking lot and eat on wooden benches and tables and sometimes sit next to one of the original 7 astronauts and their family. Those were the good ole days.
bill word

[RickH]

Anybody remember Grandma Hillman with her dorag handing out menus at the front door, or circulating around the tables, or lines of people waiting to get in ? I fell by one of the shrimp tanks by the back door, sliced open my hand when I hit the oyster shell. I still have the scar !

[the330thbg]

thanks Bill and everyone who published their photos and links!

One more fun bit of trivia since you mentioned butchering the pronunciation of San Jacinter...!

It technically should have been called the Battle of Lynchburg.
The closest named point is the Lynchburg Ferry.
But (for real... I no BS you GI... I love you!!!) Old man Lynch charged the Texican Army a toll to cross the river on his ferry and Gen. Sam Houston (another famously mispronounced name ) declared there was no way in heck he was going to name a battle after the SOB who charged his Army a toll to go win Independence.

And that's the way it was History fans.

I guess if Mr. Lynchburg accepted 'pesos' Santa Anna would have crossed to meet Houston (pronounced Howston in NY ) on the other side and so much for San Jacinto!

[Pogo]

Anybody remember Grandma Hillman........

I still go to Hillman's regularly. The great old restaurant is history, of course - Alicia did it in in '83 if I recall correctly - but their seafood market thrives. They offer more than just shrimp, fish and crabs, and among the more interesting items is tubs of their shrimp cole slaw, as made fresh on the premises from the old restaurant recipe. Inside scoop: they make it on Thursday mornings, and are often sold out by Saturday afternoon, so look for it on Fridays. They also import real live local grocery store boudain during crawfish season when they're making weekly runs over to real Cajun country, so if you know what I'm talking about, there's your hot tip.

[maradamx3]

How does the USS Texas do financially? Is it a popular destination?

Not sure how the Texas does financially, but over the years it seems they have done just enough to stay afloat (no pun intended). I remember at one time they were raising money for a PT boat they were restoring. At the time I saw it, it was propped up on a stand to the left of the Texas pier entrance. Wondered why they were raising money for this PT boat and not the Texas?
Also, I suppose the Parks board or somebody decided to start charging for parking. I understand it, but absolutely hate parking fees. Probably why I don't go to Texan games ($20 to park), Sam Houston Race Park, or other places that charge to park. It just seems like they are nickle and diming you to death. If I am going to pay to go tour the Texas, I'm not going to pay for parking too. That's just me. I realize everyone is trying to get a piece of the pie, but at what expense. I think it negatively effects attendence. If they move it to Galveston it will probably do better. Then we'll need that rail line from downtown to the Strand!

[airnutz]

Anybody remember Grandma Hillman........

I still go to Hillman's regularly. The great old restaurant is history, of course - Alicia did it in in '83 if I recall correctly - but their seafood market thrives.

I don't recall Grandma Hillman handing out menus..probably due to being an ignernt hungry kid too busy to take notice, but
there is a painting behind the cash register in the market of Grandpa and Grandma Hillman in her signature do-rag. When in the market, you are actually in part of the old restaurant. Ask to use the restroom, and you go thru the door at the end of the fresh fish counter and you step down into the old dining area with a view of the boats etc. The little wooden boat on the corner of the oyster shell parking lot Rick was talking about as you walk outside the front of the market is Grandpa Hillman's old boat. As they tell it...that's what he raised a family with...tiny little wooden bugger, no bigger'n a popcorn fart(or they're jerking my leg!)! I bug 'em about restoring it a few years or so but it's pretty far gone. I'm surprised it was still there after Ike considering how deep the water got there. Another remnant of the restaurant is their shrimp/crab gumbo you can purchase frozen. Sorry for the long off-topic folks...

Last edited by airnutz on Thu Mar 03, 2011 4:51 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Russ Matthews]

I remember at one time they were raising money for a PT boat they were restoring. At the time I saw it, it was propped up on a stand to the left of the Texas pier entrance.

That would be the PT-309 ...

http://www.hnsa.org/ships/pt309.htm

... now fully restored and on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredricksburg, TX.

http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/index.asp

[RickH]

The only connection between PT309 and Texas was that the Texas Parks and Wildlife decided to park the PT Boat there while the volunteer crew rebuilt her hull. PT309 was considered an artifact of TPW and it was supposed to eventually go to Nimitz, at the time a State Park. NO USS TEXAS money was used for PT309.

The money raised by Nimitz by selling the SBD to Lone Star Flight Museum was supposed to be used to restore PT309, to my knowledge, very little actually made it to the boat. Nimitz Museum, aka National Museum of the Pacific a
has been deassessed as a state park.

[maradamx3]

The only connection between PT309 and Texas was that the Texas Parks and Wildlife decided to park the PT Boat there while the volunteer crew rebuilt her hull. PT309 was considered an artifact of TPW and it was supposed to eventually go to Nimitz, at the time a State Park. NO USS TEXAS money was used for PT309.

The money raised by Nimitz by selling the SBD to Lone Star Flight Museum was supposed to be used to restore PT309, to my knowledge, very little actually made it to the boat. Nimitz Museum, aka National Museum of the Pacific a
has been deassessed as a state park.

Didn't mean to make it sound as if I meant "they" were the people associated with the Battleship Texas. "They" are whoever placed the PT boat next to the Texas. I didn't think the two boats/ships were linked historically or financially. I just remember seeing and hearing about the PT boat on a visit to the Texas one day.

I hope to make it up to Fredericksburg one weekend (not for the PT boat, although I won't turn away from it).

What is the Texas admission these days?
Tommy

[airnutz]

What is the Texas admission these days?

Ten bucks, kids are free 12 & under

[whistlingdeath77]

is pt 309 the one they had in the water, then took it out?

[RickH]

is pt 309 the one they had in the water, then took it out?

Yes, I was there the day they put her in a sling and put her back into the water. Bilge pumps were put in place then water levels were monitored for 48 hrs as the hull swelled. She was pretty tight from the git go. The next few days were spent fitting all of the deck structures which had been built, installed, then removed for the overland trip to the boatyard on Clear Lake outside of Houston.

The volunteer crew worked very hard to finish her out with very little real money and many donations from interested companies and individuals. Just before she was run for the first time in many years, the Nimitz Museum heirarchy had her repossed at gunpoint from the volunteer crew who had believed they were going to be allowed to run her at least once. To that end they kept working, right up until the museum personnel figured she was good enough for their display purposes. PT 309 was hoisted out of the water, placed on a trailer and taken to the dry climate of Fredricksburg, Texas. A hole was dug and a simulated dock was built inside a metal building. The boat and trailer were placed into the hole, only her deck and deck structures are visible to the public.

PT309 could have been a wonderful living history exhibit and ambassador extolling the virtues of the Nimitz Museum to a community of 4,000,000 people, instead, she sits, in little Fredricksburg, Texas, far off the beaten path. But because of some narrow minded individuals, she sits high and dry where only a handful see just her top deck each year.

[Canso42]

In the late 1980's I worked for a little freebie newspaper based in Brenham that had been running "Battleship Bulletins", i.e. updates on the buildup to the major resto effort. I started covering the story first hand, met and interviewed many BB-35 veterans, one of whom lived in Houston who introduced us to many more.
I was there in Dec. '88 when they pulled her out of the mud. This took some serious tugboat horsepower since forty years of ship channel traffic had built up a big berm of mud under her stern that they didnt' know about. Also the rudder is still stuck at 17 deg. starboard as it was when she was berthed there in 1948 or so.
The salvors were losing ground heading into the Todd drydock on Pelican Island. I went to the ship a couple of times there, creeping around under her hull. The head dude of the tow said they almost lost her in the back bay-the pumps couldn't keep up. I also heard it said that "six more months getting to drydock and it would have been a lost cause."

"Battleships were meant to take men and guns into the face of the enemy and make him change his ways. Not sit in the mud of their home state." (Tom Feehery, ed./pub. "the Texas Citizen.")
I watched them float her out later on, from the tall ship Elissa dock. From there Texas went to a shipyard up the Houston ship channel.

I kept schmoozing my contacts with Texas Parks & Wildlife and was one of the lucky journalists who got to ride her home in summer 1990.

The one aviation story I've had published was about an OS2U recovery snafu in the Atlantic on Texas. Naval History Magazine, Spring 1991, Vol. 5, #1.

Been a long time since I made any effort at any serious writing. Sailing on a BB was definitely the highlight of that career.

blue skies & tailwinds, everyone.