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Author
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Topic: USS Texas - The 2OO2 Season
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Linnea
Pirate Posts: 12116
From: Seattle, Elliott Bay
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 15 May 2002 01:17 AM
   
Congrats - dreadnought BB~35! and Happy 90th Birthday!
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eliza_nightvoice
Moderator Pirate Posts: 6346
From: Between the mountains, 2nd star to the right. (Just call me Nightvoice, thx)
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 15 May 2002 05:34 AM
Happy Birthday, USS Texas. You've got a good crew that will see that you have many more!(Does a ship really have a birthday? Keel laying, christening, I can see, but birthday?) 
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Black Tassel
Pirate Posts: 1545
From: Ladner Village, Canada
Registered: May 2000
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posted 16 May 2002 08:10 AM
A belated Happy Birthday (and Baptism, I guess), USS Texas..... dear BB-35!Got the postcard yesterday, Mike. Your printing is a delight to read. Kewl how you changed the 'quantity' of visitors to 'dozens'  Thanks so very much, she has a place of honour on my fridge. Hope that's not sacrilegious for such a fine lady. Luv & cheers ------------------
Brenda 
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 21 May 2002 11:08 PM
Brenda, anywhere you choose to place your postcard for display is fine, as long as people see it. And yes, it's been years since thousands have been to visit her.
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 27 May 2002 10:32 PM
What better way to spend Memorial Day Sunday, than working on a floating museum & memorial? Went to BB-35 to help out on the GSK Office (that stands for General Store Keeper's Office). Only me & Chuck Moore were there, but that didn't hold us back. We finished up the desk which goes against the rear bulkhead. It's a long desk, with a cabinet in the middle. While Chuck was sanding some tough old paint off the wooden cabinet door, I was in the right chairwell, with an electric grinder, removing paint & rust from the inside. After it was finished, we moved it out into the 2nd deck port pass. This was to provide space to use a floor buffer to sand the armor plates on the deck.Soon the deck will be ready to apply a coat of rust inhibitor, and then painted. Most od the "rusty & dusty" work will be done this week, and the room is progressing nicely. Chuck has set its "christening date" for June 23rd.
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 28 May 2002 11:51 PM
A big announcement today, if you're a big Battleship Texas fan. If not, then you hardly heard it when it was given a glossed mention on one local TV news program, at noon today.It was announced that plans are underway for the USS Texas to go to dry-dock sometime in 2OO5. No firm destination has been set, but she may be going to Louisiana of even Florida. A 375-hp diesel generator has been recently emplaced on the main deck to provide power for the trip. Over the next 2 1/2 - 3 years, we will be preparing artifacts, displays, and other things to be stored for the trip, both on & offboard the ship. While in dry-dock, her hull will be checked, her wood decking will be replaced, as well as other work to be determined in the near future. My guess would be some restoration of the main battery control at the top of the foremast superstructure, and the structures on the mainmast. While the ship is gone from her home slip, for maybe 12 to 18 months, there will be many changes made to her berth & the surrounding area. First, they may line the slip with concrete. And to see the other changes which are being scheduled. go to this link;
www.usstexasbb35.com/future_plan_for_the_texas.htm this is all long-term stuff for BB-35. If it all comes together, it will be a magnificent presentation, one worthy of showcasing the world's oldest dreadnought. It will ruin the remoteness of my favorite picnic area, but it's worth it, if it helps the ship.
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Linnea
Pirate Posts: 12116
From: Seattle, Elliott Bay
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 01 June 2002 01:14 AM
This is great! Spike Mike. Please click this link to review the plans for the USS Texas and to DONATE to the restoration project! KEWL!http://www.usstexasbb35.com/fund_the_future.htm
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02 June 2002 11:14 PM
Spent the day onboard, painting in the GSK office. The room is completely prepped, and today we sprayed a good coat of rust inhibitor; a brick red color of oil-base paint, which helps prevent further rusting. We were painting during the day, but the wind & blower belts weren't working with us, and we sort of "fumed out" about half of second deck. So, we had to stop for a bit, and resume after the ship had closed. But the work got done, and now the office is ready for officer country green on the walls. Our next scheduled get-together is this coming Saturday evening, again after the ship closes, and if there is no sleepover program for that night. It's looking good, and we should be able to complete around the target date.Earlier today, as I was taking a cigarette break on the gangway, I looked down at the waterline and noticed that fish were swimming up to the sides and snacking on the algae growing on the torpedo blisters. I later pointed it out to Ed, so no one would accuse me of hallucinating from "enjoying" too many paint fumes.
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02 June 2002 11:30 PM
By the way, if you're ever painting onboard a ship, and in through the porthole flies a big yellow-n-purple seagull, wearing a bowtie, and he starts up a conversation with you, and you realize he's speaking with a British accent; this is not the time to wonder if he's really an albatross- get your butt up to the main deck for some fresh air!! 
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 07 June 2002 12:05 AM
Jeez, somebody ask me a question! Don't let all that tour guide schooling go to waste!  I know I'm slightly late, but this is the 58th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, or Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day. the USS Texas was there, and earned her second battle star by shelling the German fortifications located on the beach, along with the USS Arkansas, BB-33. Thank you, old girls.
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eliza_nightvoice
Moderator Pirate Posts: 6346
From: Between the mountains, 2nd star to the right. (Just call me Nightvoice, thx)
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 07 June 2002 07:37 AM
Spike, didn't think that the ship was still in active service during WWII. When was she decommissioned? (or is she like the USS Constitution, never decommissioned.)
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Linnea
Pirate Posts: 12116
From: Seattle, Elliott Bay
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 07 June 2002 01:10 PM
Hey, Spike Mike! Is there any archived footage of film/photos of the Normandy action featuring the battleships? I would surely like to see some of that.
GO TEXAS!
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Linnea
Pirate Posts: 12116
From: Seattle, Elliott Bay
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 07 June 2002 01:11 PM
Hell - I would even settle for a hollywood version. Is the USS TEXAS in any films I can get access to?
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 08 June 2002 12:41 AM
Yes, nightvoice, BB-35 earned five battle stars in WWII, as well as seeing service in WWI. She is the only remaining battleship to have done so. She was decommisioned in 1946, after 34 years of faithful service.Linnea, there is some footage somewhere, of her firing at Normandy, but I wouldn't know where to get it. We do have a video in the gift shop, which shows her firing, but I think it was training fire, and had dubbed sound. As far as a movie appearance, Gwen once posted the title of a movie which was shot onboard, but I can't remember the title. Too many paint fumes.
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 16 June 2002 10:20 PM
Okay, some catching up to do.Last weekend, the GSK got sprayed with a heavy coat of officer quarter's green. After some touching up with brushes, the walls & ceiling are complete. We then went over all the desks with equipment grey. This weekend, the desks were set in place, and topped with 1/16th-inch black linoleum. The porthole is in place, but has ho hinge pin. Dennis has warned everyone; upon opening, be prepared to catch! Today, Chuck was doing the electrical boxes & overhead light fixtures, and I was taking measurements to stencil the frame numbers on the overhead beams. The room is really coming along and looks fantastic, although Chuck has reset the christening date one week, to June 3Oth. One of our TP&WD members, John Ferguson, will be leaving this week. John will be going to Amarillo, where he will be in charge of the 21st Armored Division's new museum. We all wish John the best of luck. And the votes are in on the non-profit organization option. There were;
2 - FOR
21 - AGAINST
O - ABSTAIN
...and one card was mailed back, with no vote or signature. 
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 23 June 2002 10:25 PM
Well the General Store Keeper's Office is almost complete. The porthole is fixed (no more catch net needed), there are four overhead lamps up & working, and this weekend I painted the reference numbers on the frames overhead: FR 99, FR 1OO, FR 1O1. Dennis was putting the final screws into the walls, at the back of the desks. Chuck got the swingarm desk lamps in place, and all the brass trim around the deck & desktops. It is really looking sharp.Next Saturday is "final touch day". Dennis & Chuck will be there, and when all is done, I will lay a final shine on the brass trim. Sunday, at noon, is the official wrap party, with pizza being served for the work crew.
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 24 June 2002 11:02 PM
And someone I overlooked: our "token woman" volunteer, Lisa Kolb, was hard at work in the paint booth, located in another part of second deck. She was working on the room's chairs, and we didn't see much of her. She is a good worker and we could use more like her onboard.
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Linnea
Pirate Posts: 12116
From: Seattle, Elliott Bay
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 25 June 2002 12:41 AM
Webster Online - word for the day:The Word of the Day for June 25 is: dreadnought • \DRED-nawt\ • (noun)
1 : a warm garment of thick cloth; also : the cloth
2 : battleship
*3 : one that is among the largest or most powerful of its kind Example sentence: Sam would settle for no less than a dreadnought of a boom box, which was fine with all of his friends but didn't go over too well with his landlord. Did you know? "Fear nothing"—that's essentially what "dread" plus "nought" means. The name might seem a strange one for a garment, but if you consider that dreadnoughts were worn on board ship, you can appreciate the colorful name perhaps as much as the seafaring men must have appreciated the thick protection. The clothes and the cloth, first called "fearnought" in the late 18th century, came long before the battleship. Not until 1906 did the British Navy launch the HMS Dreadnought, the first battleship to have a main armament consisting entirely of big guns all of the same caliber. All ships of this type were then called "dreadnoughts." That particular type of battleship soon became obsolete, but their legacy lives on in the extended third sense of "dreadnought." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
---------------------------------------------
© 2002 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 26 June 2002 10:09 PM
I knew that.
Except the part about the arm garment. I'd like to have a dreadnought coat, if there is such a thing. I'll have to hit the search engine.It's ironic that "dreadnought" was the 'Word of the Day' on June 25th. The USS Texas (the last remaining dreadnought) was off Cherbourg on June 25th, 1944, when she was struck by German shore batteries twice while firing salvos. I think BB-35 was the only US Navy battleship ever hit by German artillery. Also in attendance were the USS Arkansas and the USS Nevada. The first shell hit the conning tower, killing helmsman Chris Christiansen, and wounding thirteen other sailors. Later, another shell struck thte bow, and lodged in the junior officer's quarters (half deck), and didn't explode. It was later defused, and kept aboard the ship to this day, where it is displayed in the starboard aircastle. It is also painted Measure 21 blue, the same color BB-35 wore during WWII. Smn. Cristiansen was the only sailor to die in combat aboard the USS Texas. In the plans for the new visitor's center, there will be a memorial to him. [This message has been edited by Spike Mike (edited 28 June 2002).]
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 02 July 2002 12:42 AM
The news from the USS Texas is good- the General Store Keeper's Office is officially completed! I wasn't able to make it to the ship due to bad weather on Saturday, but Sunday was a better day.We had a good turnout of volunteers for the unveiling, as it were. Most were the people who put in time on the project. The Battleship Texas Foundation is very impressed by the work we've done, which is always good. Pizza was served, and Dennis had some "before" photos, which showed the room as it was before we started. Almost unrecognizable. A total of 667 work-hours were put in on this project, with over 25O of those logged by Chuck Moore. He spent close to the equivalent of two weeks working over the last six months of the project. And wouldn't you know it? Chuck accidentally broke the backpad on one of the chairs and cracked the glass on a framed photo in the GSK! But hey, you put in that much time, I guess you're allowed to trash the room a bit. Now it is up to the Battleship Texas Amateur Radio Station to get in gear and set up their radios in the room, and give us the specifications for a permanently-mounted antenna. Hopefully they will do this soon. What's next for the FTV? Well, for the last few years, the children of the ship's surgeon have been kicking out with funds to restore his quarters. Our curator, Barry Ward, feels that it should be a priority for our next project. However, it is forward of the wardroom, on 2nd deck, in the unrestored senior officer's quarters. It would be a waste to restore one stateroom and not make it accesible, so therefore we will probably start working on that area next. It is a long hallway-like space, and will take some time and logistics. Don Fischer (our Master Chief), Chuck Moore and I took a look at the area, and kicked around dome ideas.
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 03 July 2002 12:35 AM
On the last weekend of final touches in GSK, I forgot my Kryptonite bike lock. So I brought my bicycle, Horse Called War, onboard & parked it under the #5 turret. I took off the front wheel & stored it in the locked section of the crew's head. The chrome front forks sit in a tennis ball, cut in half & turned inside out, to prevent scratching them, or the deck.
When we knocked off work, it was close to closing, and the old ship was almost deserted. So I put horse together, and said, "why not?" I slowly pedaled the deck, heading aft, to round the #5 and continue rolling toward the bow. Not going fast, between 3 & 5 mph, I pedaled past #4 turret and the ship's bell, and on past #3 turret. A few people, on the starboard side saw me, and I smiled & nodded. Onward, into the aircastle; a challenge here, as it is filled with support column pipes. At the foredeck is the handicap-access ramp, which is a very low-clearance zone on a bike. But I managed to work my way through without a dismount or headache. Up now, passing the #2 & #1 turrets, and then around the anchor riggings. All the way to the bow, around the hawser pipes, and then turning to roll aft down the port side. Going forward is all uphill onboard, but not challenging with a low gear. Now it was down hill, very easy. A little too easy, and you don't want to get out of control and pull some bad stuntman outtakes. Pull the triggers & tighten the brake calipers as I roll between the 2Omm gun tubs. I have to stop here at the post aircastle and lift Horse over the waterdam cowling, and then resaddle to roll lazily through the pipe supports. Then rolling down the quarterdeck, past the #3 turret, and to the gangway. As I was going, I heard a kid say, "you can ride bikes on the ship?". I stopped and said with a smile, "only if you come out & put in a lot of work." I rolled down the gangway and onto the concrete boarding ramp, increased speed to about 17 mph before grabbing the brakes, coming to a fine, quick stop at the gate.I always wanted to do that!
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 19 July 2002 10:51 PM
Well, tomorrow is the big day. Amateur radio operators from museum ships from across the nation (and a few overseas) will link up with each other this weekend. Here are some frequency numbers:* * SSB * *
3.86OKHz
7.26O "
14.26O "
18.16O "
21.36O "
24.96O "
28.36O "
5O.16O " * * CW * *
3.539KHz
7.O39 "
1O.1O9 "
14.O39 "
18.O99 "
21.O39 "
24.899 "
28.O39 " * * PSK 31 * *
14O7OMHz
1O142 "
181OOMHz
21O7O "
2872OMHz * * AM * *
July 2O : 729OKHz : 14OO-143OZ
July 21 : 3885KHz : OOO2-O1OOZ
July 21 : 729OKHz : 14OO-143OZ I don't know if the USS Texas will be a part of this, as we have been waiting for the Houston Amateur Radio Club to get back with us and give us the specifications for a permanent antenna. I guess they coulddo what they did last year: they strung a temporary antenna from one of the boat cranes. They were set up in the galley on the main deck. While they are doing this, Chuck Moore, J.D. Oliver & myself will be running speaker wire on the mainmast. Climbing time is here!
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Linnea
Pirate Posts: 12116
From: Seattle, Elliott Bay
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 16 August 2002 12:09 AM
Stay tuned!
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Conspiracy Theorist
Pirate Posts: 597
From: Reno, NV
Registered: May 2000
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posted 16 August 2002 05:49 PM
This may seem like a naive question, but I was curious. Are there any plans to restore the engines, so that the USS Texas can actually be put under steam on special occasions?Wouldn't it be grand? ------------------
Rick Jackson
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Spike Mike
Moderator Pirate Posts: 13241
From: Highlands, Texas
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 16 August 2002 11:51 PM
Hey Rick, Cap'n Code & I discussed your question on tonight's Fantastic Forum Radio Show. Honestly, no, that is not achievable. It would cost (and this is like a basketball player guessing on a baseball park) anywhere from $1OO to 2OO million dollars, or possibly more. Her original build (in 1914 dollars) was just over 9 million dollars. To rebuild her engines today would require a drydock trip, cutting of decks, and possibly hull, to remove, restore & replace. But engines are not enough; she needs steam, which would mean at least two out of six boilers. Also, one bronze propellor (9272 lbs.) and rebiulding of her shafts & shaft alleys. And then- then there's her 2O-ton rudder. Frozen at approxiamately 13 degrees to portside. Not to mention her steering motor. That may require an extra boiler as well. We're running up quite a bill here. Luckily, the steering mechanisms wouldn't necessarily need replacing; you could use sound-powered phones to communicate and tell the steering motor hands what to do. The same with all the throttle mechanisms.But we must keep in mind, she's a 9O-year-old battleship. She really wasn't built to last this long. Running rebuilt motors in her might doher more harm than good. Her engines are almost identical to the ones that went down on the Titanic, and they can produce considerable vibration, as well as the turning props. If she were to sail across the North Atlantic today, it is possible that her old steel could crack like ice, and that's not good. So no, sorry, but her cruises in the future will be done on a tow line. But cabin space is still available! Just jion up with the First Texas Volunteers & put in 5O hours a year until 2OO5.
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