Warbird Information Exchange

I got news for you, John, she's leaking badly right now ! I was in the aft steering compartment last year and they have an electric pump running all the time. The pump quit for a while and that steering compartment flooded quite quickly, it was only through quick action that the ammunition storage/handling rooms for the aft barbette didn't flood too !

There is talk of building a drydock right where she sits today, I was surprised to hear of the talk about moving her to Galveston. The Todd Shipyard closed many years ago and the drydock they used during the last restoration is long gone. The fear is, that in her present state she might not make the trip across the Gulf to Mobile, Alabama.

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Hi everyone I have 20 or so photos of the Texas posted over here, if you wanna take a look
http://www.cdsg.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=91

A very fine set of photos! What a great piece of history that ship is. I wonder whats happening with the efforts to save the USS Olympia?

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Nice pics, Armyjunk ! You went on the hard hat tour !

We kept going through the ship and every ugly space we got to, we thought, " who'd you have to p!ss off to get stuck in here " ! Then we got to the hatch in the deck that covered the emergency radio, apparently two sailors were selected to go down into this hole were they would close this heavy hatch with flush mounted countersunk 2" screws. Your job was to keep cranking the ships position and SOS until you couldn't send it anymore ( you were dead and the ship was on the bottom ! ) ! You knew that when you went in there, someone was going to have to let you out or you weren't EVER coming out ! We all felt that was the ultimate " who'd you have to p!ss off to get THAT job " ! It was opened several years ago for the first time since TEXAS was brought to Houston, they said that compartment was a virtual time capsule.

TEXAS is amazing, she had one foot in the late 1800s, was modernized several times in the 20th century but she has retained much of her earlier technology. Most of the ship was originally wired DC, and a lot of the original equipment remains DC, but alternators were installed prior to WWII, so some of the equipment is AC powered. There is an air conditioner installed down in CIC that was purchased from an early AC dealer in Hawaii when she went to the South Pacific, the reason they needed it is that the CIC, deep in the bowels of the ship is right over the fuel oil heaters ! The heat was unbearable and hard on some of the equipment down there. She also retains an early plotting computer for the big guns. It is original to the ship from her builders ! The computer plotter resides in a delicate wood and glass piece of furniture.

TEXAS has several basic flaws built into her as a combat ship. The British designated her noncombat worthy during WWI. She has a central electrical cable tray that runs the length on the ship, it is just above the keel, it has no separating watertight bulkheads. One torpedo from a Uboat penetrates her armor belt, ( which was strengthened during her 1920 rework ) and she sinks ! During the 1920s modernization, her coal bunkers were transformed into crew quarters to accommodate the additional crew added to man the antiaircraft weapons. They are now large open spaces that are open to the central below water decks, no watertight bulkheads, just large open holes that would let the water run through the lower decks unimpeded ! One large hole under the waterline and it would have been over !

Armyjunk's photos show the aft steering compartment, notice those spoked wheels ? They are taller than a man and took two sailors on each side of each wheel to turn them, TEXAS only has one big rudder on the back of the ship, just like a large sailing vessel. Those wheels are absolute works of joinery art ! Notice the water line in the compartment ? There are surprises like that all over the ship, if you ever get the chance to do a hardhat tour, don't miss it, you'll experience things that most of the general public never see !

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

great photos

_________________
" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."

The 1930's ocean liner RMS Queen Mary was built with riveted constructiion and still survives as a hotel/museum in Long Beach, CA.

I recently read of a new initiative aimed at returning the Olympia to the San Francisco area where she was originally constructed...

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/20/1509784/uss-olympia-may-find-home-in-san.html#storylink=mirelated

Unless theyplan to dump $29 Million in Bond and fundraising dollars, the USS Texas will remain where she is. They should have the design completed in the next month or two and hopefully they'll be able to expedite the environmental assessment and get building before the current 2014 timeline.

You know CAP, there are folks who wanted her removed from San Jacinto because they thought her being there was confusing some people.

Those folks figured that there was NO way that Sam Houston could lose with TEXAS and her big guns supporting him !

_________________
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Oh Rick, don't be silly. If anyone wonders why Gen'l Sam Houston was able to whip Santa Anna and his army so handily, just go up IH 45 to Huntsville and look at the statue of him. He was 65 feet tall. You'd run too.

If you really want to throw 'em a curve at San Jacinto, just pronounce it properly: SAHN-ha-SEEN-toh. Texans are great about making sure nobody gets away with saying 'jalapeno' wrong, but routinely murder 'San Jacinto' in cold blood, and won't even know what you're talking about if you pronounce it like a Mexican.

_________________
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway

Thanks for the update. I hope they are successful.

_________________
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

Cool Shot Don!

We last visited BB-35 in 2008 with group of Scouts. She seems to do pretty well as far as visitors go. Every time I have been there over the years it was rather busy. I think the dry berth display plan fundraising is underway.
http://www.battleshiptexas.org/aboutUs/ ... yBerth.cfm

I sure hope this can happen I think it's the best plan to save her. It is certainly worth the effort to go and see this ship if you are in the area.






http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s159 ... on%202008/

_________________
Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Join us for the Texas Warbird Report on WarbirdRadio.com!
http://www.facebook.com/WarbirdRadio
Listen at http://www.warbirdradio.com

Great photos Bill, including the San Jacinto Inn on BB-35's port side...a Texas legend in its own right! It closed in 1987 and you can see in Ztex's photos it is gone now.
Open for 70yrs or so it was renowned for the all-you-can-eat seafood, chicken, and homemade biscuits. San Jac Inn, Hillman's, and Gaido's were on the must-do eat list back in the day.

Come to think of it, if it was still operating I'd wager the attendance at the parks would be up. We'd tour the Park and Texas...feast at the San Jac Inn and sleep as the 'rents drove us back to grandma's house in Galveston. Great times!

Old menu cover and post card...
http://www.baytownrelclassof66.org/imag ... %20inn.jpg

http://bill37mccurdy.files.wordpress.co ... ac-inn.jpg

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

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 hell 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.

_________________
Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

how can the navy and it's long tradition let this rot away? Seems odd that they could take this ship and fix the hull in no time at all. After all, they take care of their precious USS Constitution

_________________
" I am a nobody in aviation, but somebody to my family."