History of the USS Texas names in the US Navy

It's always nice to see photos of these fabulous ships..but history was made aboard her. Read her history!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

It's sad that the Texas is the only intact dreadnought still in existence, just wish one of the 'standards' were preserved for visits.

montyp165 said:

It's sad that the Texas is the only intact dreadnought still in existence, just wish one of the 'standards' were preserved for visits.

Click to expand...

As I've mentioned many, many time the US Navy is not in the ship museum business. And the USN has long had a very strict policy concerning ship donation for museum use.

Some of those New York class BBs were sunk during the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb testing after WWII.

I posted this at mp.net last October;

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The US Navy is not in the museum ship business.

Here's what it takes for a USN ship to become a museum..

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

The Navy's Ship Donation Program has served the interests of both the Navy and the public since its inception in 1948, providing a tangible reminder of the U.S. Navy's role in American history. Through the authority of Title 10, U.S. Code Section 7306, selected naval vessels which have been determined to be historically significant are available for donation to a non-profit organization or to a State, Commonwealth, or possession of the U.S. or any municipal corporation or political subdivision thereof. As required by 10 U.S.C. 7306, donation of naval vessels must be at no cost to the U.S. Government. The Navy's policy restricts the use of naval vessel donations for the purpose of public display as a museum or memorial. Upon execution of a donation transfer, the Donee assumes title to the vessel and all ownership costs of restoration, preservation, maintenance, operation as a static ship museum/memorial for public display, periodic dry-docking, and ultimately ship disposal.

Objectives

Promote public interest in the defense of the nation,
Commemorate naval history and heritage, and
Safeguard the preservation of donated ships for future generations.

The Navy is responsible for designating vessels to be placed on or removed from donation hold status. As the Navy's agent, SEA 21I advertises the availability of historically significant inactive ships placed on donation hold, works with potential donees to determine interest and viability of ship museum projects, provides guidance regarding donation application requirements, evaluates the applications submitted to the Navy for ship donation, and makes recommendations regarding the applications evaluated.

Once a ship is placed on donation hold status, SEA 21I publicly announces the ship's availability for donation via a notice in the Federal Register. The Navy's minimum requirements for ship donation and other ship donation application information is available by clicking on "Ship Donation Application Info" on the right side of this web page. The ship donation application process is a three-phase process. Phase I Letters of Intent and Executive Summaries are due within sixty (60) days of a Federal Register notice. Phase II applications consisting of the Business/Financial Plan and Environmental Plan are due within one (1) year of the Navy's acceptance of an applicant's Phase I Letter of Intent. Phase III applications consisting of Towing, Mooring, Maintenance, and Curatorial/Museum Management Plans are due within six (6) months of the Navy's acceptance of an applicant's Phase II application. Once an applicant meets the Navy's minimum requirements for donation, a recommendation for award is made to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. If two or more applicants are vying for a ship, the Navy will choose the best applicant from among them that meets the minimum requirements. Transfers are made "as is, where is."

Vessels which have been on donation hold from more than two (2) years are subject to being removed from donation hold and re-designated for disposal unless the applicant is making measurable positive progress toward meeting the Navy's minimum requirements for donation. Beyond two years, donation holds can only be extended on a year-to-year basis and are subject to formal review at the Navy's annual Ship Disposition Review conference.


Because title and ownership of the vessel is accepted by the Donee, the Navy is no longer the owner of donated ships. The statutory requirement of 10 U.S.C. 7306 that donated vessels be maintained in a condition satisfactory to the Secretary of the Navy pertains to the use of the vessel in a manner that does not disrespect the veterans that served on these ships or the proud traditions and heritage of the U.S. Navy. Donation transfer contracts between the Donee and the Navy also require the Donee to obtain the Navy's consent to further transfer the vessel or to disposal of the vessel at the end of its useful life as a museum/memorial. This is necessary because demilitarization of warships by complete destruction, usually by dismantling, is postponed when the vessel is donated for museum/memorial use. The Navy's consent is required to ensure that the Donee properly demilitarizes the ship at the end of its useful life as a museum/memorial.

Click to expand...

Yes, I gave a fairly thorough history of her in the early part of the thread.

Here are some more pics:

Thanks for posting Jeff.. By the way there was no air conditioning aboard these ships. Only fans and forced air for ventilation.

bd popeye said:

Thanks for posting Jeff.. By the way there was no air conditioning aboard these ships. Only fans and forced air for ventilation.

Click to expand...

Absolutely correct, popeye, and I can attest how that felt.

Decked out in the naval 21 camo pattern from WW II, the deck is a dark blue/gray.

In the 98 degree heat fom Monday, and in the sun, when I stepped onto that deck, it was like an oven. Not underway (of ourselves), so very little wind. You could just feel the heat radiating. I bet it was lose to 110 on that deck.

Though shaded, the 5-inch gun deck provided little relief.

I climbed up the ladders, despite my disabilities, all the way up to the navigation bridge. It about did me in.

My wife was watching from the gift shop onshore on the starboard side. She filmed me and got worried with me moving down cause I was moving so slow.

But...I was determined, and made it down. Whew, though, I was sweating a river. Thought I was close to heat exhaustion...and when I finally came off, one of the workers in the gift shop gave me their seat and some bottled water, and that was like heaven.

You can see some of the little fans in the pics...but they were all off. They told me there was one air onditioned galley in the vessel for tours and visitors, but...hehehe...I never saw it.

But I did make the bridge and my own tour and had a great...though in the end, exhausting...time.

My wife caught me on camera, the day I went aboard (August 12) and was climbing around on the Battleship Texas, BB-35 (at least as much as I could in my condition). It was a HOT day out...about 100 degrees, and the dark gray/blue deck camo did not help!


USS Texas, BB-35, was an amazing vessel.

Last of the dreadnaughts left. Served at Vera Cruz, World War I and World War II. First aircraft launch off of a battleship. First radar on a battleship. First Museum battleship.

Her Service Medals include:

Mexican Service Medal
26 May-8 August 1914; 9 October--4 November 1914

World War I Victory Medal
Grand Fleet Clasp: 11 February-11 November 1918
Armed Guard Clasp: 20 August-11 November 1918

American Defense Service Medal
17-25 July 1941; 13 October-26 November 1941

North African Battle Star
Algeria-Morocco landings: 8-11 November 1942

Normandy Battle Star
Invasion of Normandy (Including bombardment of Cherbourg): 6 June-25 June 1944

Southern France Battle Star
Invasion of Southern France: 15 August-28 September 1944

Iwo Jima Battle Star
Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima: 16 February-7 March 1945

Okinawa Gunto Battle Star
Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto: 25 Mar.-14 May 1945

Occupation Service Medal
2-23 September 1945

WW II Victory Medal

Well, I just bit the bullet and put the money down to buy the 1/350 scale USS Texas, BB-35 battleship.

I visited the actual ship last year. see regarding that visit:.


You can also see my post on SD about that visit:

HERE ON THIS USS TEXAS THREAD

Recently Trumpeter came out with the 1/350 injected molded platic model kit of her, and my favority online model shop. Free-Time Hobbies was having a sale on just receiving the new model kits. I coudn't help myself..


I am really excited to get the kit in the mail (probably in the next 10 days or so), and then to build her and will have a thread for that build here on SD when the time comes.

Here's some more pics from the kit:










And here's a video of my visit to the real thing:

Some USS Texas, BB-35, photos in action in world War II:

Exchanging fire with the large German battery at Cherbourg




Preparing for action off of Okinawa

After supporting the D-Day landings at Omaha beach, the USS Texas, BB-35,was called upon, with other US Navy vessels, to engage a large German coastal battery at Cherbourg, where the allies which the allies were attacking by land.

They did not want the big naval guns to be turned against the advancing ground forces, so the USS Texas, and others, engaged those coastal guns. Here's the story.

USS Texas, BB-35 and the Battle of Cherbourg:

After rearming and refueling in England once her support for the Omaha Beach invasion ended and she retired on June 18th,, the USS Texas was ordered back into the fight on the morning of June 25th, one week after leaving Normandy.

She sailed with battleships USS Arkansas and USS Nevada, along with four cruisers and eleven destroyers to the vital port of Cherbourg. The allies were in the process of assaulting the town from land, but very a very strong battery of four 9.4 inch (240mm) guns, Battery Hamburg, was located there and needed to be suppressed.

Task Group 129.2 was built around Arkansas and Texas, and ordered to move 6 miles off the coast to the east of Cherbourg and engage Battery Hamburg. At 12:08 PM, Arkansas began firing at the German position. The German gunners waited for Arkansas and Texas to be well in range before they began returning fire. At 12:33 PM, Texas was straddled by three German shells. Five minutes later, at 12:38 PM Texas returned fire. The battleship continued firing in spite of geysers blossoming all around her (see the one picture above). She was having difficulty spotting the German targets because of smoke.


The German gunners were stubborn and skilled. At 13:16 PM, a German shell skidded across the top of the Texas conning tower, sheared the top of the fire control periscope off which wounded the gunnery officer and three others in the conning tower, then hit the main support column of the navigation bridge and exploded. This explosion caused the deck of the pilot house to be blown upwards 4 ft, wrecked the interior of the pilot house, and wounded seven more personnel. Of the eleven total casualties from the German shell hit, one man died, the helmsman on duty, Christen Christensen. The commanding officer, Captain Baker, escaped unhurt and quickly had the bridge cleared.


The warship continued to deliver 14 in gun fire in salvos and, in spite of damage and casualties, scored a direct hit at 13:55 PM, penetrating a heavily reinforced gun emplacement and destroying the gun within.


At 14:02 ground troops of VII Corps radioed, "Thanks very much—we should be grateful if you would continue until 15:00." At this point VII Corps was on the verge of breaking into Cherbourg's city streets. Shore fire control called for more naval support. all the while, large-caliber rounds from Battery Hamburg continued to drop around the ships.

At 14:47 PM, an unexploded shell from another hit was reported aboard Texas. It had crashed through the port bow directly below the Wardroom and entered the stateroom of Warrant Officer M.A. Clark, but failed to explode. The unexploded shell was later disarmed by a Navy bomb disposal team in Portsmouth, England, and this shell is displayed aboard the ship to this day. The duel went on for three hours. The Germans straddled and near-missed Texas sixty-five times, but Texas continued her mission and fired two hundred and six 14 in shells at Battery Hamburg. At 15:01 PM, at the end of the period requested by ground forces, Texas retired.


On June 29, all German resistance in Cherbourg ended. Field commanders indicated that during the battle, "naval bombardment of the coastal batteries and against strong points around Cherbourg results were excellent, and did much to engage the enemy's fire while our troops stormed into Cherbourg from the rear." The army liaison officer reported that the many German guns tcould not be reactivated, and those that could have been turned towards the advancing ground forces if they had had the chance, but because of the engaging naval fir from allied warships, they were all pointed out to sea when the city fell. The engagement of those guns by USS Texas and her sister ships, saved many American and allied lives while the ground forces were attacking the town.