Posted on 06/12/2012 3:51:05 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
Crews have been working 24-hour days to keep up with extraordinary amounts of water leaking on board Battleship Texas.
The historic ship, which just turned 100 years old in May, is only one of six remaining that served in both World War I and World War II.
The ship manager says crews noticed the unusual amount of water coming on board sometime on Saturday. Since then, workers have been at it day and night just trying to keep up.
A number of pumps have been brought to the site as the water is being directed back out into the channel. Staffers with Texas Parks and Wildlife, volunteers, a separate contractor and a salvage diving company have teamed up to take on this task.
There’s a big concern about oil getting into the channel. That’s why there is a boom placed near the ship, essentially collecting any excess oil that might leak out.
Workers are also trying to scoop the oil out of the lower portions of the ship. It is then being filtered out through pumps.
The goal is to have this fixed by Wednesday and to make sure no other leaks pop up.
“We’re dealing with a 100-year-old vessel…so you’re dealing with something that wasn’t designed to last this long. We think we can probably manage a patch, a repair on it, but this is always a concern that this could sprout up again in a different place,” said Andy Smith, the Ship Manager of Battleship Texas.
The ship manager said the lower portions of the ship have been closed to the public. People have still been allowed on board the second deck and above.
“We got a lot of hoses working and pumps working, and we don’t want to create a situation where someone might slip on some water,” explained Smith.
Workers still have not been able to pinpoint exactly where the leak is located. They are still working day and night to deal with the water that is coming on board.
For years, there’s been a plan in the works to dry dock the ship for a multi-million-dollar renovation. The ship manager said coming up with that amount of money has proved challenging, and they’re in desperate need of donors to step in and help out.
Tyhat’s a lot of firepower!
They were smart to berth her in fresh water. Those ships that are in salt water are going to have problems a lot sooner.
Wow post’s go up fast! I thought I caught tyhat THAT. Darn fat fingers!
Put her hand through the shell plating? NOT GOOD! Drydocking her is going to be tricky! Hope the keel, framing and the rest of the shell plating can support her.
It was launched in 1913. Lots of battleships were redesigned after the battle of Tsushima in 1905 and the launching of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906. What I found interesting when I toured the Texas a few years ago was that she had triple expansion steam reciprocating engines rather than steam turbines even thought the Dreadnought had steam turbines in 1906. This explains why the Texas was decommissioned immediately after WWII ended.
The battleship Schleswig-Holstein was built in 1904 and fired the first shots of world war 2, what criteria is your list using?
It was too bad the Germans didn't take the Goeben back when the Turks offered her for sale in the 70s, considering her role in the beginnings of WWI. They scrapped her shortly afterwards.
The Arkansas,Utah,Wyoming, and other ships served during both wars.
I thought she was berthed in concrete, long ago. Maybe that was just talk some time back. Would make more sense than towing to drydock and re-plating, she ain’t going anywhere anyway.
I don't think they enjoyed it as much as I did. But they humored me.
In 2004 they approved a plan to dry-dock her. Still raising funds to execute the plan.
I made a point of seeing the Texas when I last visited Houston ten or fifteen years ago. I really hope they can keep her in the water. Theres something intrinsically wrong with a warship being permenantly moored in a drydock. Or worse, in landfill like pre dreadnought Mikasa is in Yokosuka.
I wonder how much it would cost for some very rich person to build a modern, heavy armor battleship with 16” typical range rail guns. Here’s the logic.
To start with, modern anti-ship missiles are designed to attack very light ship hulls. On the typical ship they are devastating, but would hardly scratch the paint of a WWII-era battleship. However, armor today is much, much better than it was then, as well as much lighter, so a modern heavy armor battleship would be far harder to kill than even a WWII ship.
Add to that a typical 16” HE round, but not propelled by powder, but by a rail gun. Naval rail guns are designed to propel very small projectiles at extreme speeds over vast distances, but similar technology can heave a heavy projectile about the same range and speed as powder, but much more safely.
But why do such a thing?
For a very good reason. Coastal bombardment, which today is done with cruise missiles and other high tech toys, is very small and precise. However, sometimes you do not want precise. You want a sledgehammer.
And nobody who has ever experienced a US Navy 16” round has ever forgotten it. It can pick up the side of a mountain and shake it, hard. No finesse is involved. Importantly, no one who has ever experienced this wants to experience it again.
And that can be very useful in war.
The 70s were too close to WWII. Even though the ship was from WWI, perhaps the Germans were afraid of appearing to glorifying their previous militarism.
To be still existing today.
It is really brackish water there. Some tidal influence. Better than salt but not quite fresh.
I’m sure thats what they were thinking. The soviets would’ve had a field day.
No way. They realized a decade ago it was a losing battle after a century of steel in water.
In 2004 they approved a plan to dry-dock. They just need to finish raising the money.
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