And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
World War I era battleships were built with 'torpedo belts' or 'blisters'. The idea is that the torpedo explodes when it hits the outer skin of the belt several feet from the hull leaving the ship undamaged. Al_in_Ottawa
What do you mean, the last of them? There were plenty more built after this thing was. The Iowa class ships are all still in better shape than this one.
I've been aboard her four different times, and always found out something new about her. She was a mighty Lady in her time. I am so happy she is being preserved. May God bless her and all the men who served upon her. May she lasy another hundred years.
The Fat Electrician has a quick history of the USS Texas and her 'gangster lean" on D-day so she could extend the range of her guns in shore bombardment.
FWIW- if you have ad trouble, download ADAWARE and pause any other adblocker you use.
There are 5 turrets of two guns each. 2 turrets at the bow section, 2 at the strn section, one in the middle (able only to fire side to side.) So she carries more barrels than the 'modern' style of 2 triple turrets fore, 1 triple turret aft.
Not a lot of rudder authority. I imagine the conning officer had time to smoke a couple of cigarettes and draft a letter or two before much happened with 12 degrees of rudder.
What is the argument for only having ONE rudder on a warship that has multiple shafts? I figure that if it has 4 shafts, with 4 rudders, if one jams due to battle damage, you can discard it with a torch or detonating charge, and get on with the battle. Every screw should have a rudder behind it.
The Bismarck was caught and sunk due to ONE of it's TWO rudders jammed at an angle. The screwy thing was she had 3 shafts, with two rudders that weren't directly located behind any of them. The two outboard screws were mounted far ahead of the larger center one, with the rudders located beside that screw. The designer should have been hung for all that idiocy. To compound the problem, the captain and/or the admiral refused to allow the divers to blow the bad rudder off the ship, citing the possibility of damaging the screws! If you can't steer it, it's sunk anyway. Idiots! The English were lucky, and the Germans were stupid, in that whole Bismarck hunt.
Texas, Olympia and several other historical ships need to be placed on blocks out of the water to preserve them. An expensive way, but better than letting them sink at the dock.
A smaller example is the well preserved and protected U 505 in Chicago.
The Texas was sitting in the Buffalo Bayou and leaking 2,000 gallons of water per day before being moved to the Galveston dry dock for $35 million in repairs.
BB Texas in dry dock? Not sure how to view that odd rudder thing?
ReplyDeleteIIRR- The rudder is stuck in a slight starboard angle.
DeleteIndeed, the rudder is 12 degrees to starboard, the last command given under her own power, and so deliberately left that way.
DeleteIt kinda looks like a grasshoppers mouth.
ReplyDeleteWorld War I era battleships were built with 'torpedo belts' or 'blisters'. The idea is that the torpedo explodes when it hits the outer skin of the belt several feet from the hull leaving the ship undamaged.
ReplyDeleteAl_in_Ottawa
The modern version on tanks is reactive armor.
DeleteThe Texas was at both Morocco in 1942 and Normandy in 1944.
Kinda reminds me of my ex-wife from behind. ---ken
ReplyDeleteCareful.
Deletethe wiseass reply is, "y'know, it does."
DeleteThe last of the super dreadnoughts.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean, the last of them? There were plenty more built after this thing was. The Iowa class ships are all still in better shape than this one.
DeleteHe means the last surviving Super Dreadnaught.
DeleteI've been aboard her four different times, and always found out something new about her. She was a mighty Lady in her time. I am so happy she is being preserved. May God bless her and all the men who served upon her. May she lasy another hundred years.
ReplyDeleteThe Fat Electrician has a quick history of the USS Texas and her 'gangster lean" on D-day so she could extend the range of her guns in shore bombardment.
ReplyDeleteFWIW- if you have ad trouble, download ADAWARE and pause any other adblocker you use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oJSRAFkJIs&pp=ygUZZmF0IGVsZWN0cmljaWFuIHVzcyB0ZXhhcw%3D%3D
Easy to see why it's not top heavy
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt is weird seeing the main guns with only two barrels versus the "New Jersey" or "Massachusetts" with three.
ReplyDeleteWhen she was launched, her 14-inch guns were the largest afloat.
DeleteThere are 5 turrets of two guns each. 2 turrets at the bow section, 2 at the strn section, one in the middle (able only to fire side to side.) So she carries more barrels than the 'modern' style of 2 triple turrets fore, 1 triple turret aft.
DeleteBut fewer than a MONTANA would have.
DeleteNot a lot of rudder authority. I imagine the conning officer had time to smoke a couple of cigarettes and draft a letter or two before much happened with 12 degrees of rudder.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the argument for only having ONE rudder on a warship that has multiple shafts?
DeleteI figure that if it has 4 shafts, with 4 rudders, if one jams due to battle damage, you can discard it with a torch or detonating charge, and get on with the battle. Every screw should have a rudder behind it.
The Bismarck was caught and sunk due to ONE of it's TWO rudders jammed at an angle. The screwy thing was she had 3 shafts, with two rudders that weren't directly located behind any of them. The two outboard screws were mounted far ahead of the larger center one, with the rudders located beside that screw. The designer should have been hung for all that idiocy.
To compound the problem, the captain and/or the admiral refused to allow the divers to blow the bad rudder off the ship, citing the possibility of damaging the screws! If you can't steer it, it's sunk anyway. Idiots! The English were lucky, and the Germans were stupid, in that whole Bismarck hunt.
Texas, Olympia and several other historical ships need to be placed on blocks out of the water to preserve them. An expensive way, but better than letting them sink at the dock.
ReplyDeleteA smaller example is the well preserved and protected U 505 in Chicago.
I am pretty sure that the "Olympia" is docked in the fresh water of the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
DeleteThe Texas was sitting in the Buffalo Bayou and leaking 2,000 gallons of water per day before being moved to the Galveston dry dock for $35 million in repairs.
DeleteJohn, I'm pretty sure the Olympia has sunk at the dock more than once, due to hull plates rusting through. They never spent much money on her.
Delete