Recently a machinery repair company in the Houston area said that they wanted to restore the machines. How cool would it be to get to make parts for the battleship in its own shop?
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Battleship Restoration - USS Texas, BB35
- Thread starter David2011
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Recently a machinery repair company in the Houston area said that they wanted to restore the machines. How cool would it be to get to make parts for the battleship in its own shop?
It's hard to believe that I haven't posted any machining pictures since January. I'm going to post at least one more that has to do with the ship. This was taken in February shortly before the ship was returned to the water. The ship has a keel as do most all boars and ships and it has four additional 'docking keels' that help support the weight and keep it level while in dry dock. The bottoms of all five keels are in a single plane horizontally. The ship is set on concrete blocks to give full access to the hull. The concrete blocks are topped with wooden boxes filled with sand. In order to move a support block the wooden box is opened and the sand is removed, allowing the blocks to be moved with a pallet jack. Once a block in in its second position it is shimmed with wood to take up the load again. No more than four blocks can be moved at one time. The center keel blocks support 240 tons each and the docking keel blocks support 140 tons each. This was all worked out when the ship was designed and there are drawings that show where the blocks go in the dry dock. By the time the ship was returned to the water it was already showing signs of stress from not being evenly supported by water. As the launch date approached a collaborative decision was made to replace the docking keels. The damage they had taken over one grounding in the ship's early years and multiple dry dockings during and after her service had become too great to ignore. An additional $500,000 was spent to replace all four docking keels which are about half of the overall length of the ship. The damage is obvious in this shot.
OK, two more pictures of the ship. This is one of the new docking keels being fabricated on the deck of the dry dock. The tall ship Elissa can just be made out against the tall building in the background. The view is looking across the Galveston Ship Channel into the City of Galveston. Three weeks later the USS Texas was in the water.
OK, two more pictures of the ship. This is one of the new docking keels being fabricated on the deck of the dry dock. The tall ship Elissa can just be made out against the tall building in the background. The view is looking across the Galveston Ship Channel into the City of Galveston. Three weeks later the USS Texas was in the water.
After some review, I see that I did post the gunsight mounting rods in the video above in May. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/thr...uss-texas-bb35-gunsight-mounting-rods.112448/
This next piece may have been posted but I didn't find it immediately so here it is again possibly. This is just a little cup that is used to retract and release the pin that holds a 20mm Oerlikon cannon on its mount. It's just visible for an instant in the video at 0:07 seconds beneath the ammunition drum. It was complex but fun to make. I ended up making a second one later. It was a great experience to build these from a copy of the original 1942 drawings. The 20mm guns were added during WWII for close in air defense. The part is laying on a copy of the drawings. Included in the drawings were the part number and where it was to be placed on the part. It also specified that the manufacturer's stamp be placed opposite the part number so I stamped my initials. This piece was produced on my 11-26 Grizzly lathe. The second one was made on its replacement, a 3 hp 3 phase Victor real lathe with a 1.5" spindle bore. It is a delight to use with all changes at my fingertips and taking only seconds.
I'll add more soon. Need to spend time with my better half.
This next piece may have been posted but I didn't find it immediately so here it is again possibly. This is just a little cup that is used to retract and release the pin that holds a 20mm Oerlikon cannon on its mount. It's just visible for an instant in the video at 0:07 seconds beneath the ammunition drum. It was complex but fun to make. I ended up making a second one later. It was a great experience to build these from a copy of the original 1942 drawings. The 20mm guns were added during WWII for close in air defense. The part is laying on a copy of the drawings. Included in the drawings were the part number and where it was to be placed on the part. It also specified that the manufacturer's stamp be placed opposite the part number so I stamped my initials. This piece was produced on my 11-26 Grizzly lathe. The second one was made on its replacement, a 3 hp 3 phase Victor real lathe with a 1.5" spindle bore. It is a delight to use with all changes at my fingertips and taking only seconds.
I'll add more soon. Need to spend time with my better half.
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Thank you for taking the time to share!
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Hey David, I here they are having difficulty finding a home for her. The article I read discussed the fact that she cannot return to the San Jacinto Battle ground, any idea what that is about?
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They have a YouTube channel.
Thank you so much!
You will have better luck with Facebook. Look for ‘Battleship Texas Foundation Group.’ There are lots of videos on YouTube as well, both from the Battleship Texas Foundation and others. ‘Tom Scott the Older One’ is a gold mine of information on the ship. He is another volunteer on the restoration and has a remarkable depth of knowledge on the ship. Just search YouTube for ‘Battleship Texas’ and you’ll find tons of videos.
She is back in the water. She left dry dock in early March, 2024. It is possible to visit the ship on weekends on a guided tour. Since she’s still in the Gulf Copper Shipyard with work continuing it’s in an industrial environment. Search for the ‘Battleship Texas Foundation’ website for tour information.
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BTW, settling in for the evening with your screen name being important. I have an excellent Old Fashioned at my side.
First, the San Jacinto Battleground State Park: The Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife does not want the battleship at the park. Among the reasons are that she had nothing to do with Texas gaining independence from Mexico and the slip that was dug in 1948 is in a spot that research revealed was a campsite for part of General Sam Houston’s army. The plan is to restore that area to its pre-battleship condition.
For those unfamiliar with Texas history, General Houston’s army defeated Mexican General Santa Ana in the area that is now designated the San Jacinto Battleground State Park.
Negotiations with the City and Port Authority of Galveston have been challenging. After walking away from negotiations they decided to continue discussions with the Battleship Texas Foundation (BTF) a few days later. The BTF has from what I hear made a big effort to help the city and port authority understand the multitude of things that BTF needs and wants. Dockside land is an issue. Tillman Fertitta owns all of the land in the vicinity of the original pier, known as Pier 21, where we thought the ship would be moored. For anyone who doesn’t know about Fertitta, he owns Landry’s, Joe’s Crab Shack, The Aquarium, the Houston Rockets, casinos; the list is long and he isn’t known for giving anything away for free. Parking is already limited and expensive near the waterfront and the presence of the battleship would only make it worse. There are additional possibilities in Galveston but those that know aren’t saying where so far. The ship really needs to be in Galveston since the tourist traffic is already there. That’s about all I know right now. Deep water locations are preferred by far because of the cost of dredging and maintaining a channel into a shallow area. The plan is to have the ship dry docked every 20-30 years in the future so the current massive effort will not be wasted. Best guess by the unwashed at this point is that the bill will surpass $70 million by the time the ship is open for regular visitation.
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Just finished a couple of small projects tonight. I’ll get photos posted as time permits. My mother (90 years old this month) just decided to sell her house and move closer to most of the family so between that and all of the holiday activities it’s been busy lately.