Few battleships leave as long-lasting an imprint upon history as the USS Texas (BB-35). She is a living history of naval innovation, technology, and the professionalism of her men and officers. She was commissioned in 1912 and built in 1914, and was one of the most powerful battleships of her generation. As well-matched as she was, a ten-gun battery of 14-inch guns, shooting 1,400-pound shells 12 miles, she was the apogee of American sea power and soon the object of world jealousy. Her existence was one of loveliness and front-line duty. Her early sea life cruising Mexican waters in the Tampico Affair, patrolling off Veracruz.
Her first foreign tour was only the beginning of a lifetime of service at the front of international operations. After America entered World War I, she served with the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea. She was not employed in direct service, but she was invaluable to convoy escort duty, and witnessed the 1918 German High Seas Fleet surrender—a history’s victory achieved without the discharge of a single cannon shell.
In and between the two wars, Texas was the pace setter for experimentation and innovation. Texas led the way away from an American battleship by air when, in 1919, Commander Edward McDonnell flew out from a turret ramp in a Sopwith Camel.
It was a step towards naval aviation. She tested anti-aircraft ordnance, fire control, and the first air search radar, setting the pattern battleship design for the next two decades. Presidents, movie stars, and even Charles Lindbergh appealed to her in Texas, 1927-1931, and made her a national pride symbol.
World War II summoned her to the bloodiest amphibious war ever. Texas alone was one of the Allied warships that fought in all four of the main amphibious battles: North Africa, Normandy, Southern France, and the Pacific battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
At Normandy, her opposite modified her scope differently by actually carrying water into torpedo blisters, and she had space to absorb a beaching of fire. At the Battle of Cherbourg, she weathered a German shell that failed to explode because of her solidity and good luck. In the Pacific, Texas fought through combat support with fire on Okinawa and Iwo Jima and still stood to oppose kamikaze raids. Captain Charles Baker’s men were on war stations for 50 days and fired nearly 6,000 rounds into Okinawa and observed the flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi, a legend forever embedded in the hearts of the men.
Nothing was more alien to war existence than Texas. Esprit de corps among shipmates was maintained through sport, games, and recreation. Boxing, wrestling, football, and rowing were the modus in style, even with hometown clubs at times. Motion pictures, concerts, and traveling shows maintained morale. More than half of the men were members of sporting teams, and these suggest how ordinary activity brought men together and maintained morale on long cruises.
Following the war, Texas was spared the destiny of most oitser contemporaries. Rather than resting on the ocean bed in quantities numbering into thousands of battleships, she was gifted to the State of Texas in 1948 and converted into the nation’s first battleship memorial museum. Docked at the San Jacinto Battleground, she provided the citizens with a point of reference that they could touch and relate to naval history and a memorial to the men and women who were on the ship.
Seizing the ghastly catch has been Texas history enthusiasts and the Navy long-awaited fantasy of the past decades. Plugs were plugged in, and postponed maintenance, such as a $35 million repair program that relocated her into a Galveston dry dock.
They are attempting to send Texas back to 1945 to visit the air-conditioned exhibit buildings and interactive displays. Battleship Texas Foundation and corporate donors are doing their best to give the visitor an experience that will send them back into the past and create a new appreciation for the heroism of her sailors.
USS Texas is a testament to naval bravery and the importance of never forgetting and naval heritage. Her decks witnessed victory and the pain of combat, and with ongoing preservation, her heritage will keep on teaching and inspiring future generations.