Historic Battleship Texas; The Last Dreadnought

Abilene, TX: State House Press, 2007. First Printing [Stated]. Trade paperback. 192 pages. The Military History of Texas series tells the colorful, dynamic, and heroic stories of the state's soldiers, battles, and battlefields from Spanish times to the present. This book contains an Introduction, twelve chapters, two appendices, and notes, as well as 40 black and white photographs, 11 black and white maps, and an Index. The author was the director of the San Jacinto Battleground State History Site where Battleship Texas is located. During the first quarter of the 20th Century, the major naval powers of the world built hundreds of Dreadnought-style battleships. Today there is only one. The battleship Texas was for a time the most powerful weapon on earth. When she was commissioned in 1914, her 14-inch guns were the largest in the world. This technological marvel of her time served with the British Grand Fleet in World War I and was the flagship of the entire U.S. Navy between the two World Wars. During the Second World War, Texas supported amphibious invasions in North Africa, Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. She and her crew were preparing for the invasion of Japan when the war ended and the Texas came home. The Texas was saved from the scrap yard to become our nation's first historic ship museum in 1948. Now lying peacefully in her berth at the San Jacinto State Park near Houston, the battleship Texas is still serving her country--teaching instead of fighting. The Texas is the only battleship remaining in the world today that served in World War I and the only ship remaining of any type that served in both World Wars. USS Texas (BB-35), is a former United States Navy New York-class battleship. She was launched on 18 May 1912 and commissioned on 12 March 1914. Soon after her commissioning, Texas saw action in Mexican waters following the "Tampico Incident" and made numerous sorties into the North Sea during World War I. When the United States formally entered World War II in 1941, Texas escorted war convoys across the Atlantic and later shelled Axis-held beaches for the North African campaign and the Normandy Landings before being transferred to the Pacific Theater late in 1944 to provide naval gunfire support during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Texas was decommissioned in 1948, having earned a total of five battle stars for service in World War II, and is now a museum ship near Houston, Texas. In addition to her combat service, Texas also served as a technological testbed during her career, and in this capacity became the first US battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first US ship to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers (analog forerunners of today's computers), the first US battleship to launch an aircraft, from a platform on Turret 2, and was one of the first to receive the CXAM-1 version of CXAM production radar in the US Navy. Among the world's remaining battleships, Texas is notable for being the first US battleship to become a permanent museum ship, the first battleship declared to be a US National Historic Landmark, and is the only remaining World War I–era dreadnought battleship. She is also noteworthy for being one of only seven remaining ships and the only remaining capital ship to have served in both World Wars. She is not, however, the oldest surviving steel battleship, an honor which goes to the twelve year older pre-dreadnought Mikasa ordered in 1898 by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

At 03:00 on 6 June 1944, Texas and the British cruiser Glasgow entered the Omaha Western fire support lane and arrived at her initial firing position 12,000 yards (11,000 m) offshore near Pointe du Hoc at 04:41, as part of a combined total US-British flotilla of 702 ships, including seven battleships and five heavy cruisers. The initial bombardment commenced at 05:50, against the site of six 15-centimetre (6 in) guns, atop Pointe du Hoc. When Texas ceased firing at the Pointe at 06:24, 255 14-inch shells had been fired in 34 minutes—an average rate of fire of 7.5 shells per minute, which was the longest sustained period of firing for Texas in World War II. While shells from the main guns were hitting Pointe du Hoc, the 5-inch guns were firing on the area leading up to Exit D-1, the route to get inland from western Omaha. At 06:26, Texas shifted her main battery gunfire to the western edge of Omaha Beach, around the town of Vierville. Meanwhile, her secondary battery went to work on another target on the western end of "Omaha" beach, a ravine laced with strong points to defend an exit road. Later, under control of airborne spotters, she moved her major-caliber fire inland to interdict enemy reinforcement activities and to destroy batteries and other strong points farther inland.

On 17 April 1947, the Battleship Texas Commission was established by the Texas Legislature to care for the ship. The $225,000 necessary to pay for towing her from Baltimore to San Jacinto was the Commission's first task. On 17 March 1948, Texas began her journey to her new anchorage along the busy Houston Ship Channel near the San Jacinto Monument, at San Jacinto State Park, arriving on 20 April, where she was turned over to the State of Texas the next day to serve as a permanent memorial. Texas sits just across from the monument at Battleground Park in the waters of the Port of Houston where she was ceremoniously decommissioned on the 21st, nine days later on 30 April 1948 her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. Texas was the first permanent battleship memorial museum in the US. When the battleship was presented to the State of Texas, she was commissioned as the flagship of the Texas Navy.

A little over 1000 men lived aboard the Battleship when commissioned; that number increased to over 1,800 during World War II. The Battleship’s long history includes being the first U.S. Navy vessel to house a permanently assigned contingent of U.S. Marines. The U.S. Navy transferred Battleship Texas to the State of Texas in 1948 and, for over 65 years, the ship has been open as a public memorial at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. Because of the Battleship’s age, key structural areas are in need of repair. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is currently making critical vessel repairs to the ship’s “skeleton” so that the ship remains strong enough to hold herself up. During the invasion of France, Battleship Texas dealt out some heavy blows, and took two direct hits from German coastal defense guns. Only one of the shells exploded after it struck the ship on top of its conning tower. The explosion blew the decking in the bridge upward, killing the helmsman, Christen Christensen, and injuring thirteen of the crewmembers manning the bridge. One of the injured crew, Emil Saul, spent two and a half years in the hospital after sustaining extensive injuries in the explosion. Because of Saul’s injuries, the ship’s crew awarded him the battle ensign that flew over the ship at D-Day. Saul donated the ensign back to the ship in 1992. The other shell that struck the ship did not explode. It penetrated the ship’s hull above the armor belt and landed in the stateroom of the ship’s clerk, Warrant Officer M.A. Clark. The ship’s crew did not know the shell struck the ship until a damage control party found the shell toward the end of the engagement. The shell was deactivated and returned to the ship as a good luck charm.
Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Battleship Texas, World War 1, World War 2, U.S. Navy, USS Texas, Dreadnaught, D-Day, Operation Overlord, Pointe du Hoc, Cherbourg, Iwo Jima, Suribachi, Okinawa, Museum

ISBN: 978193333707

[Book #79549]

Price: $35.00

See all items in D-Day, U.S. Navy
See all items by