The USS Texas

As a structural engineer working on buildings, I can safely say that something has gone terribly wrong if the subjects of my work are moving perceptibly. But historic preservation extends beyond buildings, and so I’ve discussed the preservation (or not) of ships including SS United States, the John J. Harvey, SS Queen Mary, and the Binghamton. The short version: preserving ships is even more difficult than preserving buildings, as dunking complicated steel objects in salt water is a good way to destroy them.

That depressing intro leads me to today’s topic: USS Texas. The ship was commissioned in 1914, replacing the 1892 battleship of the same name. The Texas was one of only two New-York-class battleships* built: the technology of large ships in general and naval ships in particular was advancing rapidly at the beginning of the twentieth century, and each class of large ship became quickly obsolete. The cycle of new and bigger battleships was final broken around the end of World War II by the rise of aircraft carriers and airpower in general.

The Texas is unfortunately in bad shape in pretty much exactly the way you’d expect. There are leaks from holes below the waterline, and they are difficult to repair because the innards of the ship are a huge mess of hazardous materials including asbestos and oil. Water eats steel and regular maintenance – particularly painting – is the only preventative that works.

The Texas is tied up adjacent to the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, which is a national historic landmark, but the ship itself is not designated. Its status as the flagship of the Texas Navy may be symbolic, but is not enough for the last example of a class of ship that was critical to United States** and to the naval history of the twentieth century. The history of military technology, like the history of any technology and the history of architecture, is best understood by examining actual examples. If the Texas (and the United States) are lost due to inaction, we will all be poorer for having lost the links to the past.

(Hat tip to Robert Farley for his tweets on the topic.)

* The New York Class also has the distinction of bearing one of the more romantic names ever dreamed up for military technology: they were the United States’s dreadnoughts. The Texas is the last dreadnought in existence.

** The Texas saw significant action in both World Wars.