The USS Texas is in this thread at least 10 times, not including this page. I for one did not know its story/history. Six minute video will get ya up to date if, like me, you didnt know this stuff.
All this moving stuff just happened last week but its been planned for years.
Laid down 1912, the last remaining "dreadnought" style of battleship, fought WWI and WWII, first Navy boat to do this, first to do that, retired in 1947 and given to state of Texas to turn into a museum.
Now a "floating" museum. Over 100 years in saltwater, however, took its toll. Basically, it was rotting away faster than it could generate revenue to cover the expense of keeping it up.
It was sitting on the bottom in mud, not really "floating" but leaking like a sieve -- recently a 5 foot by 6 foot hole opened in the hull allowing in enough water that it nearly rolled it over..
A decision was made, in the prioritization of public funding, that it had to carry a large part of its costs I guess. End of the day, it was not gonna make it.
Somewhere past decade or so, it became apparent IF it was to continue to live on as a museum piece, it had to be repaired. How much ($35 million)?. In that decision, they had to decide to keep it floating OR create a permanent dry dock for it.
They chose the latter .. but where to move it? Can it even be moved (without it sinking/blocking Houston Bay) from where it is to wherever it would be dry docked? Who has to weigh in on the plan? Nine minute video and that comes into focus.
They apparently have four proposals for permanent dry dock. These look similar in this pic, but video above shows the differences in the four ideas they are studying.
Other photo is last week in tow to dry dock to fix it, so they can move it
again to its permanent home.
Video below (2:30), shows a "heavy metal" project in itself -- how they will permanently dry dock it when they finally pick a place for it.
My vote on the Texas?
Now that I know more about it, heck yeah save this boat. And they are gonna try to do just that and hopefully make it last another 100 years in permanent dry dock.
Yup, it's just a "thing" .. but in the pantheon of "things" in human history we can/should hang onto for our descendants to learn from, its up purdy high on that list to me.
