USS Texas

[MiloMorai]

Leaky battleship in Texas begins trip for $35M repairs (yahoo.com)

LA PORTE, Texas (AP) — It’s the only surviving battleship that served in both world wars, having fought Nazis and the Japanese Army during World War II. But the greatest challenge in recent years for the USS Texas has been a leaky, rusty hull that at times forced workers to pump out about 2,000 gallons (7,570 liters) of water per minute from the 110-year-old ship.

To ensure the historic vessel doesn’t sink and can continue hosting visitors, the foundation in charge of its care is towing the ship Wednesday from its longtime home along the Houston Ship Channel to a shipyard in Galveston for much needed repairs.

Tony Gregory, the president of the Battleship Texas Foundation, said Wednesday the pulling of the ship by tugboats and getting it on its way was perfect. He said any problems would have happened in the first 15 minutes of pulling the ship but there were no issues.

[Stuart Galbraith]

There are some amazing photo's of this underway online. OK, so its behind a tow rope, but you cant have everything.

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

[futon]

Assuming its all correct, lots of info and pictures related to the bombardment of Iwo Jima which USS Texas participated in.

http://www.allworldwars.com/Iwo-Jima-Naval-Gunfire-Support.html

[Tim the Tank Nut]

sail her back under her own power...

[Harold Jones]

Is there anyone left who knows how to light the boilers, let alone get her under way?

[sunday]

That is supposing the boilers' tubes are able to withstand pressure...

[James1978]

There is the small matter of the ship not having screws.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

gotta be a spare floating about somewhere...

sometimes in life you have to operate on willpower.  It's a WW1 Dreadnought.  This is the wealthiest country on earth. 

Enterprise, Warspite, and Goeben are all gone.

We are lucky to have the USS Texas but the difficulties in financing her are absurd.  We spend money giving needles to drug addicts.  Priorities, people!!

[futon]

The tank collection at Ft Benning gets its funds for by being an education tool for US Army, etc. Maybe educational purposes can go to old navy things as well.

[Stuart Galbraith]

On 9/7/2022 at 2:18 PM, Tim the Tank Nut said:

gotta be a spare floating about somewhere...

sometimes in life you have to operate on willpower.  It's a WW1 Dreadnought.  This is the wealthiest country on earth. 

Enterprise, Warspite, and Goeben are all gone.

We are lucky to have the USS Texas but the difficulties in financing her are absurd.  We spend money giving needles to drug addicts.  Priorities, people!!

And you know what? She would still be more use militarily than an LCS.

You would have to reboiler her, doable but not cheap. And you have the stress on her plates  from being at sea. Personally I'd prefer to see her safe in a proper dry dock and properly maintained. The ideal way it strikes me is to recommision her in the navy, and give her a ceremonial role. Considering how the USN has been wasting money hand over fist, this arguably would be money well spent.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

one boiler, 5 knots.

If we can't manage that it's time for new mechanics.

Despite my complaining the fact that we have her at all IS and accomplishment.  To beat a dead horse this is the same nation that scrapped CV6 which would put us at the top of the shit list for all of eternity except that the RN let the Warspite go.  That will remain at the top of the "I'm with stupid" list long after our Sun has darkened to ash.

[Stuart Galbraith]

UK was bankrupt. It was either scrap her, or the KGVs, which had to go after a while anyway.Besides, she still has extensive battlefield damage from WW2.

 

 

[Lesley]

Good to see she is taken care off. The USS Texas participated in 1915 in a rescue operation of passengers of the SS Rijndam, a Holland-America-Line passenger ship. As token of gratitude the HAL presented a silver model of a 17th century warship to the USS Texas. The model should still be in the museum collection on the ship.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Thought this an interesting contrast.

https://twitter.com/yulenbilbao/status/1568540024047636480?s=19

[Tim the Tank Nut]

Bankrupt or not it was the Warspite.  Of course, being the Warspite she took matters into her own hands.  Anyone who doubts that certain ships have a life of their own is mistaken. Princess Elizabeth was 21 when Warspite slipped her moorings.

[Yama]

Warspite was barely afloat after the war, she would have required repair right away...it was sadly just unrealistic.

In general, running a museum ship is lot more expensive than one would think "oh it just floats there". Texas herself was nearly sunk due to neglect and has required several expensive refits just to stay afloat. US has many battleships preserved, which is great, but I suspect that some of them won't make it through next 20-30 years.

[MiloMorai]

USS Olympia was in bad shape. USS Olympia (C-6) - Wikipedia

[TonyE]

Problem, meet solution:

[bojan]

Ah, fake Mikasa?

[TonyE]

Real Mikasa, encased in concrete since the 1920s.

Here is a post-war picture btw, before restoration:

[bojan]

Damn, had no idea that she has actually survived...

Edited September 11, 2022 by bojan

[alejandro_]

1 hour ago, Yama said:

Warspite was barely afloat after the war, she would have required repair right away...it was sadly just unrealistic.

In general, running a museum ship is lot more expensive than one would think "oh it just floats there". Texas herself was nearly sunk due to neglect and has required several expensive refits just to stay afloat. US has many battleships preserved, which is great, but I suspect that some of them won't make it through next 20-30 years.

At least HMS Belfast was saved, and it has become a very popular attraction in London. I am not sure if income is enough to cover maintenance but it does not seem to be big drama. The Royal Navy also tried to save HMS Vanguard but it was too expensive (never seen any figures). It is also a shame that Dreadnought was also lost, and being a smaller ship maintenance would have been cheaper.

Note that if Charles gets a Coronation Review, there won't be any battleships for the first time in quite a few years!

[Stuart Galbraith]

She actually went into dry dock several years ago for a service. She seems to be ok.

But the best comparison to Texas we have is the almost forgotten HMS Caroline in Belfast, a World War One Light cruiser, and the last survivor of Jutland. Whom seems on the face of it, to be in fairly remarkable condition.

http://www.nmrn.org.uk/visit-us/hms-caroline

[Mikel2]

How much of the Aurora is original?  Whose idea was it to cut and scuttle the lower half of the ship??

On Mikasa, I thought the concrete thing was a condition of the occupying forces to prevent scrapping of the ship, but it was part of the Washington Treaty negotiations to preserve it. 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Mikel2