USS TEXAS (BB 35) -- LaPorte TX
N 29° 45.313 W 095° 05.348
15R E 297992 N 3293490
To get a detailed and up-close look at the USS TEXAS (before heading aboard), check out the coin-operated binoculars along her berth next to the Houston Ship Channel.
Waymark Code: WMG2YA
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/05/2013
Views: 10
The coin operated binoculars that point at the USS TEXAS can also be oriented to check out the shipping traffic in the Houston Ship Channel. But why would you want to do that???
The USS TEXAS (BB 35), a New York-class battleship whose design was based on the British Navy's fearsome HMS DREADNOUGHT, was the most powerful weapon in the world at the dawn of WWI. When the TEXAS was decommissioned 44 years later, she had seen action in both World War I and World War II, and had served as the flagship of the US Atlantic Fleet.
Now, a century after her commissioning, she is the the only surviving battleship of her class: the last of the "Dreadnoughts."
From the Battleship Texas State park website: (visit link)
The TEXAS is the last of the battleships patterned after HMS Dreadnought that participated in both World War I and World War II.
She was launched on May 18, 1912, from Newport News, Virginia. When the USS TEXAS was commissioned on March 12, 1914, she was the most powerful weapon in the world, [and] the most complex product of an industrial nation just beginning to become a force in global events.
In 1916, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns and the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers, analog forerunners of today's computers. In 1919, TEXAS became the first U.S. battleship to launch an aircraft.
The TEXAS received the first commercial radar in the U.S. Navy in 1939. New anti-aircraft batteries, fire control and communication equipment allowed the ship to remain an aging but powerful unit in the U.S. naval fleet. In 1940, TEXAS was designated flagship of U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The First Marine Division was founded aboard the TEXAS early in 1941. The TEXAS was decommissioned on April 21, 1948.
The TEXAS holds the distinguished designation of a National Historic Landmark and a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark." [end]
Cost to Operate: .50
Primary Vista: USS TEXAS
Number of devices at the site: 1
Other Vistas at the location:
Houston Ship Channel
San Jacinto Monument
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