Old Lady getting some work done............

[MikeInTexas]

Had an interesting Sunday afternoon.  Got to see the grand old lady of Texas getting her facelift in dry-dock. 

The USS Texas, BB35 is a New York class battleship, lunched in May of 1912, the last surviving WW1 era dreadnought type battleship and the only remaining capital ship to serve in both world wars.  In April of 1948 she was given to the people of Texas as a permanent memorial.  Since August of last year she's been in dry dock undergoing $70+ million in repairs.

Got to go onto the dry-dock today for about a 90 minute tour.  Extremely interesting and the volunteers who conducted the tour did an outstanding job with the history and current status of the repairs along with the history of the ship.  First time I have ever been under a 38,000+ ton ship......and probably the last time also.  A true once in a lifetime experience.

[MikeInTexas]

Our tour group, mostly veterans, they were running tour groups about every 30 minutes.  So 3 groups on the dock floor at any given time.  We had a main speaker and 4 other volunteers that assisted and answered questions.  White helmets were our tour guides.  PPE was provided, hard hats and safety glasses, no shorts or open toed shoes allowed.  No work being done on Sunday allows the foundation to conduct these revenue generating tours.  Gift tent selling souvenirs to help the cause, including 1911 grips made from pine that has been removed from the ship.

[MikeInTexas]

Two views of the keel blocks, with original Teak timbers.  The wood has held up a lot better than the steel.  No plans to replace this original structure due to it still doing it's job.

(edited to add:  The keel blocks are the dry dock structures that hold the ship, I forget what the steel pieces that encased the teak riveted on the bottom of the ship are called.  They were built at the time of original construction to support the weight of the ship when building and dry-docking and are a normal part of the hull structure.)

[MikeInTexas]

Rear of the ship with the rudder off to one side, frozen up and will not be straightened.  Wood filled and skinned with steel.  Other picture looking forward in front of the rudder.  Caps cover where the prop shafts used to come out of the hull.

[MikeInTexas]

Showing the new structures replacing the problematic torpedo blisters from the 1920s.  This has been a problem for the ship since they were installed between the world wars.  Access used to be from the outside and they leaked badly, caused a lot of problems.  New blisters will look like the originals did in 1945 when she is re-floated.  The flat bottom will allow better inspections in the future.  The red arrow shows part of the original brackets used for the first set. The originals had smoothly blended into the bottom of the ship.  These new blisters will give her 3 feet less draft and will make it easier to put her in the new home.

[MikeInTexas]

Bow of the ship with the paravane attachment points.  This was used to clear mines by a towed device.

If you look closely you will see a bunch of 3 digit numbers all over the surface.  These are places where they measured the hull thickness, to thousandths of an inch.  This is what helped determined which areas needed to be replaced.  They have left a lot of areas in their original, riveted configuration.  Welding did not become widely used in shipbuilding until decades later.  Of course, all the new plate is welded on.  Because of lost skills, a lot of work done in the 1980s dry-docking caused issues.  They found leaking rivets, instead of finding craftsmen that knew how to repair them, they ring welded them.  This caused the rivets nearby to then loosen due to the heat.  So the problems then grew and grew as they went, they eventually ring welded thousands of rivets.   Could have repaired the leaky ones with some simple procedures had they known how.

[MikeInTexas]

They are able to remove a single support block, clean and coat the surface, then replace it and get it supporting the ship again.   Many photos show areas that have some new coating applied already.


Hope you guys found this interesting.  Next time I visit her she should be in the water, restored, in her new home across the harbor tied up to Galveston's pier 21.  Where with a prime location she will be visited by a lot more folks coming to this tourist destination city.

[MikeInTexas]

If anyone is interested in one of these tours, they will be running on Sundays for a bit longer.  $150 a ticket for the walking tour.

You can check out the foundation site for more details.

https://battleshiptexas.org/




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[backupr9]

Thanks for a great read and the pics Mike….a Grand Old Lady indeed!

[MikeInTexas]

Of course you have to have a tour group photo.

[ECR]

Wonderful History there Michael. . . . .
Great job with your narration and photographs.

Thank you so much for sharing a piece of our history with us here.

Hope all is well with you and the family.

Sincere regards,

Eric R.