Uss Texas Ww2 - Photograph taken on April 15, 1919 shows Texas (Battleship No. 35) returning home from operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Note the two twin-engined Sopwith "Camel" fighters on the fore and aft platforms. Naval and Heritage Command photo, NH 45290.
(Battleship No. 35: Displacement 27,000 tons; 1 Length 573'0"; Beam 95'2½" (waterline); Draft 29'7"; Speed 21.05 knots (experimental); Auxiliary 954; Armament 10 14-inch guns, 21 5-inch guns, 4 3-pounders, 4 21-inch torpedo tubes (submersible; New York class)
Uss Texas Ww2
The second Texas (Battleship No. 35) was laid down on April 17, 1911 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding Co.; launched 18 May 1912; sponsored by Miss Claudia Lyon; and placed Captain Albert W. Grant in command on March 12, 1914.
World War Relic Battleship Texas Sets Sail For First Time In Decades
On March 24, 1912, the Texas left the Norfolk Navy Yard and, after stopping at Hampton Roads, set course for New York. She spent the night of the 26th/27th in Tompkinsville, New York and entered the New York Navy Yard the following day. She was there for the next three weeks installing firefighting equipment.
While in New York, President Woodrow Wilson ordered a number of Atlantic Fleet ships into Mexican waters in response to tensions that arose after overzealous Mexican federal troops arrested an American boat crew in Tampico. The issue was quickly resolved on the spot, but returning director Henry T. Mayo sought further redress, demanding public denial of the act by the Huerta administration and a 21-gun salute to the American flag.
Unfortunately for Mexican-US relations, President Wilson clearly saw the incident as an opportunity to pressure an administration he felt was undemocratic. On April 20, 1914, Wilson referred the matter to Congress and sent orders to Vice Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher, who commanded the Navy off the coast of Mexico, ordering him to land troops in Veracruz and seize the Customs House there in retaliation for the incident Tampiko. This operation was performed on April 21-22. accomplished.
When the Texas put to sea on May 13, 1914, due to her severe condition, she went straight into service without enjoying the usual clean-up and repair time after rigging. After a five-day stint at Hampton Roads (May 14-19), she joined Rear Admiral Fletcher's team in Veracruz on May 26. She remained in Mexican waters for over two months supporting US forces on land. On August 8, she left Veracruz for Nipe Bay, Cuba, and from there proceeded to New York, where she entered the Navy Yard on August 21.
Battleship Texas Will Celebrates The End Of World War I With Free Admission
The battleship remained until September 5, 1914, when she returned to sea, joined the Atlantic Fleet and settled into the plan for normal fleet operations. In October she returned to the Mexican coast. Later that month, Texas became station ship in Tuxpan, a shift that lasted until early November. On December 20, the ship finally said goodbye to Mexico in Tampico and set course for New York. The battleship entered the New York Navy Yard on December 28 and remained there for repairs until February 16, 1915.
Upon her return to active duty with the fleet, Texas resumed a schedule of training operations along the New England coast and off the Virginia Sea, alternating with winter naval tactical exercises and gunnery practice in the West Indies. This practice continued for over two years until the February–March crisis over rampant submarine warfare brought the United States into war with the Central Powers in April 1917.
When war was declared on April 6, 1917, Texas was anchored at the mouth of the York River with the other battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. She remained near the Virginia Capes-Hampton Roads until mid-August to conduct drills and train fleet gunners for duty aboard merchant ships.
In August 1917 she sailed to New York for repairs, arriving at Station 10 on the 19th and docking in Long Island Sound on the 20th, entering the New York Navy Yard shortly thereafter. She completed repairs on September 26 and departed for Port Jefferson the same day.
Uss Texas, Last Of The World War I Era Battleships, Moved For Repairs
However, in the middle watch on the 27th, she ran aground hard at Block Island. For three days, her crew unsuccessfully replaced the ship. Tugboats came to the rescue on the 30th, and by 6:06 a.m. on October 2 Texas was afloat again. Six tugs removed the battleship from these waters, but damage to her hull meant she was returned to shipyard and the extensive repairs she required prevented her from joining the 9th Division to the British Isles in November.
By December 1917 she had completed repairs and moved south to conduct war games from the York River. In mid-January 1918, the battleship found itself back in New York preparing for the voyage across the Atlantic. She left New York on January 30; arrived at Scapa Flow in Orkney off the coast of Scotland on 11 February; and rejoined the 9th Division, then known as the Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet.
Texas' service with the Grand Fleet consisted entirely of convoy missions and occasional raids to reinforce British forces at North Sea bases when German heavy forces threatened. The fleet split between bases at Scapa Flow and on the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Texas began her mission just five days after arriving at Scapa Flow, where she regrouped with the entire fleet to reinforce the Fourth Combat Squadron then deployed in the North Sea. She returned to Scapa Flow the next day and remained there until March 8, when she set sail on a convoy escort mission that took her back to Texas on the 12th, and her fellow divisions entered the Firth of Forth on April 12th entered, but left again on the 17th to accompany a convoy. The US battleships returned to base on April 20. Four days later, Texas set sail again in support of the Second Battle Group, a day after the German High Seas Fleet left Jade Bay for the Norwegian coast to threaten the Allied convoys. The German ships leaving on the 25th were sighted by the foremost forces, but at such a distance that there was no chance of engaging the enemy in battle. The Germans returned to their base that day, and the Grand Fleet, including the Texas, did the same the next day.
Texas and her fellow divisions enjoyed a relatively calm May 1918 in the Firth of Forth. On 9 June she set out with other ships of the Sixth Combat Squadron and returned to anchor at Scapa Flow, where she arrived the next day. Between June 30 and July 2, Texas and her colleagues served as escorts for American miners who were joining a mining operation in the North Sea. After a two-day return to Scapa Flow, Texas set sail with the Grand Fleet for two days of tactical drills and war games. The fleet left Scapa Flow on the 11th and entered the Firth of Forth the following day.
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For the remainder of World War II, Texas and the other 9th Division battleships continued to operate with the Grand Fleet as Sixth Battle Squadron. As the German fleet became increasingly confined to its bases in the mouths of the Jade and Ems rivers, American and British ships increasingly oriented themselves to a routine operational plan with little or no hint of combat operations. This situation continued until the end of the armistice on November 11, 1918. During the night of 20/21 November she escorted the Grand Fleet to meet the surrendering German fleet. The two fleets met and anchored about 40 miles east of May Island - near the mouth of the Firth of Forth.
The American force then moved to Portland, England, arriving there on December 4, 1918. Eight days later, Texas set sail with the 9th and 6th Divisions to meet President Wilson and boarded the troop carrier George Washington (ID 3018). on the way to the Paris Peace Conference. The meeting took place around 7:30 the next morning and escorted the President to Brest, France, where the ships arrived at 12:30. That evening, the Texas and other American battleships left Brest for the United States. The warships left Ambrose Light on Christmas Day 1918 and arrived in New York the next day.
After an overhaul, Texas returned to service with the Atlantic Fleet in early 1919. On March 9, the battleship arrived aboard the British-built Sopwith Camel, and the next day, while anchored in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, she became the first American battleship. launch a plane when Lt. Commander Edward O. McDonnell flew the Camel off the podium after it was built on the Turret II's crown. That summer she was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet. On July 17, 1920, she was designated BB-35 during the Navy's standardization of classification systems and identification numbers.
Texas served in the Pacific until
Battleship Texas Bb35 Paint Schemes Measure 12 Measure 21
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