Saving the Battleship Texas

Saving the Battleship Texas

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Saving
• the
• Battleship
• Texas

[timonsolus]

It's great that the US has preserved the Texas. I wish Britain had preserved HMS Warspite, which also served in both wars. All we've got left is the cruiser HMS Belfast. (And HMS Victory, of course.)

[Tull29]

Thank you for posting this. I attempt to learn as much as I can from a combination of reading, documentaries and historical videos such as this.

I have two questions if I may. What was the advantage of the "cage mast" over the "fighting top" and what does the term "quick firing" mean in terms of main gun armament?

[Itsmeagain9145]

@getplaning That is true. They are planning a permanent dry dock for the ship. Keep in mind of how old she is. Some of her steel plating below the water line is only a quarter inch thick. :(

[Itsmeagain9145]

I love this ship. I myself would volunteer if it wasn't so far. Ive been on one of the hard hat tours mentioned below and they are unbelievable. It's almost sad that there are so few of these battleships left, and that they are just sitting in shallow berths rusting away :( In my mind they still can serve a purpose as an offshore artillery platform.

[trevortrevortsr2]

guys this is gorgeous

[oele50]

It's great to see that the US keep there freedom fighting ships honoured, I have been on to the USS Alabama, the USS Drum and the USS Hornet... it was awesome to be on them, so much history!

[getplaning]

I read this week that there is a proposal to permanently berth the Texas in a dry dock. Despite the last restoration, she's rusting away faster than ever.

[18895Cobra]

@timonsolus it would have been good if we'd have preserved HMS Vanguard, the last battleship built in the world but we scrapped that one as well :(

[Tull29]

@norton996 -I was having a debate on another page about the merits of the "Iowa Class" and he insists that they were armored against 16" rounds; however, the info that I have insists that they were armored against 14" rounds. I understand that the penetrating power of the main armament varied from nation to nation and also depended on the type of round used. Maybe the discrepancy is due to the armored area of the Iowas that were being spoken about (turrets,barbettes, main deck etc.).

[Tull29]

@norton996 - info much appreciated. It also makes sense that "quick firing" is a term that I have come across in regards to earlier warships sporting a smaller main armament.

Thanks for the info, never too old to learn.

[norton996]

@Tull29 Originally it was thought that the cage mast would help with top weight and be less likely to be damaged in battle since there are many slender rods rather than a pole mast which has only three or four supports. It turned out that they vibrated severely when the ship was at sea and were not stable for use in observing the fall of shot from the main guns. A quick firing gun is a term used to describe the secondary weapons which are able to fire three of more shots per minute.