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Texas BROADSIDE! 2022 - December 9 - 10, 2022 - Houston Maritime Center and Museum

USS TEXAS (BB-35) - Then and Now

"Come on, Texas!"

USS TEXAS (BB-35)

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USS Texas (BB-35), the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the US state of Texas, is a New York-class battleship. The ship was launched on 18 May 1912 and commissioned on 12 March 1914.

Soon after her commissioning, Texas saw action in Mexican waters following the "Tampico Incident" and made numerous sorties into the North Sea during World War I.

When the United States formally entered World War II in 1941, Texas escorted war convoys across the Atlantic, and later shelled Axis-held beaches for the North African campaign and the Normandy Landings before being transferred to the Pacific Theater late in 1944 to provide naval gunfire support during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Texas was decommissioned in 1948, having earned a total of five battle stars for service in World War II, and is now a museum ship near Houston, Texas.


Among the world's remaining battleships, Texas is notable for being the only remaining World War I-era dreadnought battleship, though she is not the oldest surviving battleship, as Mikasa, a pre-dreadnought battleship ordered in 1898, by the Imperial Japanese Navy, is older. Nor is she the oldest steel ship still in existence as HMS Warrior, the world's first all-steel warship has been restored and is available for viewing.

In addition, Constitution, Constellation and HMS Victory, launched in 1765, Nelson's flagship at The Battle of Trafalgar, are all wooden warships older than Texas. Texas is also noteworthy for being one of only seven remaining ships, and the only remaining capital ship, to have served in both World Wars.


Among US-built battleships, Texas is notable for her sizable number of firsts: the first US Navy vessel to house a permanently assigned contingent of US Marines, the first US battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first US ship to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers (analog forerunners of today's computers), the first US battleship to launch an aircraft, from a platform on Turret 2, one of the first to receive the CXAM - 1 versionof CXAM production radar in the US Navy, the first US battleship to become a permanent museum ship, and the first battleship declared to be a US National Historic Landmark.

​USS TEXAS has been moved from its slip at the San Jacinto battlefield. She will remain in dry-dock in Galveston until repairs are complete, then she will be moved to an as-of-yet unknown tourist-rich location and re-opened to the public.

Restoration Update

 On August 31st, 2022, the USS TEXAS was towed from its slip at the San Jacinto battlefield and dry-docked in Galveston at Gulf Copper Dry Dock and Rig Repair. The TEXAS' hull will be repaired/replaced.
​
Below you will find video updates on the move and repair progress, courtesy of the Battleship Texas Foundation.
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Important Dates for TEXAS

  • May 18, 1912: Launched.
  • March 12, 1914: Commisioned.
  • February 11, 1918: Joined Sixth Battle Squadron of British Grand Fleet.
  • March 9, 1919: Launched first aircraft from a battleship, a Sopwith Camel.
  • Spring 1925: Overhaul, including new masting.
  • September 1, 1927: Became flagship of the US Navy.
  • January 1928: Ferried President Hoover to Cuba.
  • Spring 1931: Underwent refit in New York Navy Yard.
  • January 4, 1939: Receives first commercial radar aboard a US Navy ship.
  • February 1, 1941: 1st Marine Division is formed aboard ship.
  • Early 1942: Escort and patrol duty.
  • November 7, 1942: Participated in TORCH landings.
  • 1943: Convoy duties in the Atlantic.
  • February 14, 1944: Repair and refit.
  • May 19, 1944: Visited by General Eisenhower.
  • June 6, 1944: Begins the shelling of Omaha Beach.
  • June 25, 1944: Shells Cherbourg.  Suffers only war-time casualty to the German shore battery "Hamburg".
  • August 15/16, 1944: Bombards Germans in Saint Tropez, South France.
  • September 14, 1944: Overhaul in New York.
  • February 15 - March 7, 1945: Battle of Iwo Jima.
  • March 21 - May 14, 1945: Battle of Okinawa.
  • Late 1945:  Carries out three Magic Carpet runs.
  • June 18, 1946: Decommisioned.
  • April 21, 1948: Presented to the state of Texas.
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    • USS TEXAS