A former navy guy told me a story about a ship they took out of mothballs and spent millions on retrofitting. During an inspection when it was all done the inspector kicked a gun mount and the mount and half a huge bolt chipped off. He said, “We’re going to scrap it.” That was the end of the inspection and the ship.
Prior to that story I always imagined that a ship would still be structurally sound even a century after it was made. The Titanic is apparently just a pile of iron oxide.
I visited the Texas in 1964 as a ten-year-old. I was impressed. But when I went below deck I was shocked that you could see from one end to the other. A single hit would have been devastating. Also, it was 100 degrees outside and the engines were off course cool. It was a hundred degrees below decks. Can you imagine what it would be like at full steam? Damn!
India is still using an aircraft carrier built in 1945 by the British. Which sounds totally insane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Viraat
The Texas is actually more of a late WW1 design or a mixture or something