[US NAVY] Battleships BB-35 Texas, New York Class Photos & Plans

[Iceman 29]

I think it might be useful for someone who would be interested in reproducing the rare and only afloat 'Texas" BB-35 battleship of its time.  

 

I'll throw in some of the shots I gleaned, and the BB-39 "Arizona".

I'm posting you some personal pictures of the "Texas" BB-35 ( also New-York Class, it will be on June 24th 44 off Omaha Beach to pound the German coastal defenses) that I had the chance to take from the top of my perch going up and down from Houston in 2003, 2006 and 2007. 

 

In truth, it is very imposing and superb, a proud look and perfectly maintained in terms of dead works.

 

At the present time, unfortunately, Texans don't know what to do with it anymore, the live works are very corroded and it seems impossible to keep it afloat any longer without works that would cost an arm and a leg. Hopefully they will find a solution for this historical monument.
 
Part of the ship's plans, the general plan:

 

https://www.hnsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/bb35.pdf

 

You can access many plans of American warships here: 

https://maritime.org/doc/plans/

 

 

2003: It's dawn, the light is magic (Personal pictures).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2006:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007:

 

 

 

 

According to the site of the foundation that maintains and operates the battleship, funds have been found to carry out a first phase of work.

The ship should also be moved, it would leave Jacinto for good.

 

More here: https://battleshiptexas.org/battleship-updates/]https://battleshiptexas.org/battleship-updates/

https://battleshiptexas.org/about]THE FOUNDATION

"Good morning, 

The Battleship Texas Foundation is pleased to announce that the Texas Historical Commission has approved three (3) permits authorizing the commencement of major work on the Battleship Texas. You will find below the press release issued by the Texas Historical Commission on March 26, 2020. We will publish the details of the permits when the repair center is selected. So come back for future updates!

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) has approved three permits to begin major relocation and restoration work on the battleship Texas. 

At a special meeting released by teleconference, the THC Executive Committee took steps to allow the Battleship Texas Foundation to prepare the ship for relocation to a shipyard for restoration. 

"We are grateful for the help and support we have received from THC, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and all of our partners and donors across the state," said Bruce Bramlett, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of the Battleship Texas Foundation. "We have a lot to do now and we're eager to get started." 
The permits also authorize work to restore the ship's hull and blister - two compartments that helped protect it from torpedoes or other attacks - and projects involving the removal and restoration of large pieces of deck, such as cannons and searchlights. 

The 86th Texas Legislature approved funding to relocate and restore the battleship Texas. Due to the importance and complexity of the project, the THC Executive Committee held a special public meeting by teleconference after the agency's March meeting planned in response to the VIDOC-19 crisis was postponed.
 

17-MAR 2020

Update on the battleship Texas 

 

"Hello, everybody!
 
It has been just over a month since our last update when we issued the press release announcing the release of the request for proposals for the new home port of the battleship. Since then, the TEXAS battleship team (BTF, TPWD and Valkor) has done a lot of work.  
 
Since the press release, we have extended the deadline for submitting proposals by 30 days to April 10. This came at the request of groups preparing proposals. So far we know of five groups that are planning to submit proposals. No, we cannot say who they are for a number of reasons. Once the proposals are submitted, we will invite each entity to have an informal conversation with us about their location. After that, we will limit the proposals to the first three. Once we have selected the top three proposals, we will publish the finalists on our website for public comment. We plan to hold interviews with the finalists from mid to late May. From there, we will select the winning proposal for the new home of the battleship TEXAS and announce the location. 
 
While we await the submission of new housing proposals, the shipyard project planning continues to hum and reach milestones. The crew of the battleship TEXAS has submitted the necessary antique permits to the Texas Historic Commission two weeks ago for review and approval by THC commissioners next week. Once the THC has approved our permits for the work, we will share what the scope of the work looks like and our basic plan for moving the battleship. Speaking of the scope of work, Valkor, our project management contractor, sent out invitations to tender to several shipyards along the gulf coast over the weekend. It will take several weeks before we start receiving bids and much longer than that before a shipyard is selected to do the work. As we promised before.  

 

As the project continued to buzz, on board the ship, the BTF and TPWD team continued to move through the ship, preparing the vessel for the transfer of operations, its voyage and the shipyard. Since February 1, the shipboard team has walked through 37 compartments to remove debris, move the ship's original bulk components to centralized storage locations on the ship, and tie down furniture and original bulk equipment. empty it of years of accumulated debris and recyclables. Since February 1, we have removed 60 cubic yards of debris and 40 cubic yards of recyclable materials. We estimate that we weigh approximately 30,000 pounds in total. We estimate that since January 1, we have removed at least 60,000 pounds of debris in total.

And finally, we want to thank the dedicated volunteers on the battleship who worked to complete the restoration of a 3"/50 magazine. They repainted the magazine and began cleaning the more than 800 3"/50 ammunition storage tubes that were acquired. Each tube contained a 3" bullet and allowed the bullets to be safely transported and loaded into the ships' magazines. These tubes would give the appearance of what the magazine would look like when full. We anticipate that this compartment, and others, will be on new Hard Hat Tour routes or added to the existing Hard Hat Tour when the ship reopens in the first quarter of 2022.

We greatly appreciate the support you have all shown us and, most importantly, the support and love you give to this great lady. Together, we will all work to ensure that her future remains bright and that she continues to be remembered by all those who served alongside her.
 

One of the projects that obviously didn't work out, in this case it was left on dry land:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017:

 

 

The problem is that it must not sink when moving to a shipyard.

If it were to sink in the canal from Houston to Galveston it would be a disaster for the port of Houston.