Miscellaneous > The Water Cooler -- General Discussions

Old Lady getting some work done............

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MikeInTexas:
Had an interesting Sunday afternoon.  Got to see the grand old lady of Texas getting her facelift in dry-dock. 

The USS Texas, BB35 is a New York class battleship, lunched in May of 1912, the last surviving WW1 era dreadnought type battleship and the only remaining capital ship to serve in both world wars.  In April of 1948 she was given to the people of Texas as a permanent memorial.  Since August of last year she's been in dry dock undergoing $70+ million in repairs.

Got to go onto the dry-dock today for about a 90 minute tour.  Extremely interesting and the volunteers who conducted the tour did an outstanding job with the history and current status of the repairs along with the history of the ship.  First time I have ever been under a 38,000+ ton ship......and probably the last time also.  A true once in a lifetime experience.

MikeInTexas:
Our tour group, mostly veterans, they were running tour groups about every 30 minutes.  So 3 groups on the dock floor at any given time.  We had a main speaker and 4 other volunteers that assisted and answered questions.  White helmets were our tour guides.  PPE was provided, hard hats and safety glasses, no shorts or open toed shoes allowed.  No work being done on Sunday allows the foundation to conduct these revenue generating tours.  Gift tent selling souvenirs to help the cause, including 1911 grips made from pine that has been removed from the ship.

MikeInTexas:
Two views of the keel blocks, with original Teak timbers.  The wood has held up a lot better than the steel.  No plans to replace this original structure due to it still doing it's job.

(edited to add:  The keel blocks are the dry dock structures that hold the ship, I forget what the steel pieces that encased the teak riveted on the bottom of the ship are called.  They were built at the time of original construction to support the weight of the ship when building and dry-docking and are a normal part of the hull structure.)

MikeInTexas:
Rear of the ship with the rudder off to one side, frozen up and will not be straightened.  Wood filled and skinned with steel.  Other picture looking forward in front of the rudder.  Caps cover where the prop shafts used to come out of the hull.

MikeInTexas:
Showing the new structures replacing the problematic torpedo blisters from the 1920s.  This has been a problem for the ship since they were installed between the world wars.  Access used to be from the outside and they leaked badly, caused a lot of problems.  New blisters will look like the originals did in 1945 when she is re-floated.  The flat bottom will allow better inspections in the future.  The red arrow shows part of the original brackets used for the first set. The originals had smoothly blended into the bottom of the ship.  These new blisters will give her 3 feet less draft and will make it easier to put her in the new home.

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