Update on BB-35...

[Truckman]

Outer hull repairs are complete, and painting is finished...One step closer......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

Excellent, at least it can float again

[Truckman]

Excellent, at least it can float again

Until old man rust holes the hull again in the coming decade...The immediate problem is in finding a suitable berth for it...Right now the direction is leaning toward Galveston......Ben

[UTAH]

She's an amazing ship with a historic role.

"Texas was also a technological testbed: the first U.S. battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first U.S. warship to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers, the first U.S. battleship to launch an aircraft, and one of the first U.S. Navy warships to receive production radar. She was the first battleship in the world to be outfitted with 14-inch guns.
- Wikipedia

Hunter

[Truckman]

She's an amazing ship with a historic role.

There were many instances of its participation in historic events...BB-35 was present at the Normandy invasion bombarding the coast to cover for troops landing on shore...At one point the ship's 14" guns had reached their maximum elevation and could not gain the trajectory to land shells further inland...The German forces figured this out and dug in their defenses just beyond the farthest shell craters...At this point the ship's Captain ordered the old battlewagon's offshore side torpedo blisters flooded which effectively raised the guns' firing angle allowing further penetration into enemy held territory...The German Army took the hint and found a safer temporary neighborhood...

After refitment and replenishment USS Texas crossed the Panama Canal into the Pacific in time to give the Japanese forces the same treatment during the invasion of Iwo Jima...Two key invasions during WWII would have been far more costly in terms of American lives without the presence of BB-35...Its legacy is one worth preserving...

The crossed anchors decoration pictured below on my desk was fashioned from the corroded deck armor salvaged from a previous restoration of USS Texas...Look carefully just below the shackle ring where the stopper crosses the shank on each depiction to see BB stamped on one and 35 on the other...It was $150 well spent as it went toward the current restoration in Galveston......Ben

[Truckman]

A further update: the hull is now completely painted...Who wants to volunteer for a coat of Meguiar's Show Polish before it leaves drydock?......Ben