Battleship Texas, part 3, below deck

Weekend visit to the USS Texas (BB-35) at San Jacinto State Park, 20-30 minutes east of Houston. (From Wikipedia) She is notable for being the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship (I like that name:); for being one of only six remaining ships to have served both World Wars; the first US battleship to launch an aircraft; the first US battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns; the first US battleship to become a permanent museum ship; the first battleship declared to be a US National Historic Landmark.

Hard Hat tours are offered. The last one for 2009 is Nov 21, according to a note one of the tour guides gave me. This gentleman, who was with the air force, was very knowledgeable and seems to enjoy what he was doing and even invited me to join and become a tour guide. He mentioned something about the ships degaussing system and electricals, and I wish I could have taken the hard hat tour and learned some more.

If you do visit the surrounding park, remember to protect yourself from mosquitoes (LOTS of them, at least when I visited in October). And if you drive from Houston to San Jacinto with the windows down, be prepared for some pungent odor.

The ship looks impressive from the outside, especially with all the big guns, but the more interesting part is when one goes below deck to see lots of beds and the type of accommodations or living quarters a sailor's rank gets; officers' lounge and quarters; shops (canteen, soda, ice cream); communications (mail, radio, morse code), facilities (medical, dental, toilet, bath, administrative offices, storage, machine, coil/oil). Inside that ship is a small town.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• USS
• Texas
• Battleship
• Houston
• San
• Jacinto
• Museum
• Monument

[maxwellsdaemon7]

@MickMan211 Yeah, that was fun.

[MickMan211]

I took the kids there yesterday..it was really interesting, and the boys loved turning the antiaircraft guns...