 |
| USS Texas from the Bow |
Over 100 years old and having last seen action in both world wars, the battleship USS Texas was on the move last Wednesday (31 August) for the first time in more than three decades to undergo much-needed repairs.
First launched in 1912 and commissioned two years later, the USS Texas engaged German U-boats off the New England coast in World War I and was later deployed during World War II to support the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, before it was eventually turned into a floating museum in 1948.
The battleship left San Jacinto County, Texas, on Wednesday morning and reached the Gulf Copper Dry Dock & Rig Repair in Galveston that evening, where it will undergo $35 million in repairs to a hull damaged by decades in the water, the Associated Press reported. The work is expected to take two years.
Two excellent videos have been made available by the foundation that takes care of this national treasure:
On the 31 August 2022 Move:
Background on the ship and the latest repair program:
Sources: Text from the Insider, 31 August 2022; videos from the Battleship Texas Foundation
In 1987 I took my mom to the opera in Houston. On the way back to Baton Rouge we stopped at San Jacinto. The U.S.S. Texas was closed to visitors as it was about to go into dry dock. Mom surprised me by telling me that she had been on the Texas in 1923 when it was at Bremerton. She had a great uncle who had worked at the dockyard and he arranged a private tour.
ReplyDelete