Dry Dock Trip May Not Happen

Special Reports on USS Texas BB~35 Dreadnought. .

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Cpt Spike Mike
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Dry Dock Trip May Not Happen

Post by Cpt Spike Mike » 11-10-2003 04:46 AM

There's important news brewing around the USS Texas. The proposed drydock trip, which had been scheduled for 2OO5, then 2OO4, may not happen at all. There are numerous reasons for this, and the news is not necessarily bad.

Okay, first of all, the bad news; the cost of the next drydock trip will be in the range of $12-15 million dollars. That pays for the tow (both ways) and the work done to the ship. Second, there is the risk of theft of artifacts & other ship items. And third (and most important) she's a 9O-year-old ship; she has leaks where she sits. To tow her could put stresses on her hull, which could expand these leaks. There's also the problem of her internal structural integrity. By the year 2OO7, she may be too fragile to actually tow. And then there's the possibility of a catastrophic event as the result of an open-gulf tow. By that I mean a potential scuba-diving reef.

So, what are the alternatives? That's where the good news begins. The ship/park's staff & the Battleship Texas Foundation have the attention of the highest level of the parks' department. They are going to take some time and work up the three best proposal ideas. The basic theory to go with now is to pull her out of her slip, build a cofferdam & pump out the water, and then concrete her slip to form a permanent drydock. This would allow her future work to be performed onsite, and she would never have to leave again. Another option is fot the Port of Houston to obtain a floating drydock, which could be used whenever she needed repairs.

Right now all this is up in the air and proposals are all pending. If the drydock plans go through, it will be the largest such project of any American museum ship.

Cpt Spike Mike
Joint Chief
Posts: 31041
Joined: 01-08-2001 03:00 AM
Contact:

Post by Cpt Spike Mike » 11-13-2003 08:07 PM

I wanted to mention that the above report was given straight from the ship's curator Barry Ward, to the First Texas Volunteers group at our annual election meeting, held every November. Once again, everybody is doing the same job they had throughout this year, which was the same job they had throughout the year before.

There is the possibility of a two-step installation process of the drydock, also known as a graving berth (a very appropriate name, as it might be the last one she ever sees). The first step would be to pull her out and into a floating drydock. There should be room to moor the float-dock there on the Houston Ship Channel. While hull maintenance and other large projects are done to the ship, Phase 1 would commence. The first step would be to build a serious cofferdam, which can be removed and reinstalled with a watertight barrier. Pump the water out of the slip, then initial dredging would be done (the proposed depth is 45-feet-deep; most drydocks only go to 4O.) and possibly the piles driven. Then the barrier is removed and the slip is flooded. Then the ship, work completed, would be released from the float-dock and remoored in her slip.

A few years later, hopefully no more than ten, would begin Phase 2. She could be pulled out and again be put into a floating drydock for repairs while the slip is again drained & cleaned out. Then would begin the concrete pour for the bottom and sides, as well as emplacements for heavy machinery, cranes, towing mules, etc. It might be possible to simply moor her in the ship channel while Phase 2 takes place, and then flood the berth, pull her in & center her up, and drain the berth to perform her repairs.

Doing this as a two-step process would allow the total cost to be spread over the next decade, instead of hitting the budget all at one time. It was a lot to take in, and it took Barry almost an hour to lay it all out for us. The end result would be similar to what thye've done for the destroyer USS Kidd over in Louisiana, only a lot bigger. And she does need it, for she's a 91-year-old ship built with rivets. It also means she would never have to leave again, and would help preserve this last dreadnought well into this century and hopefully to the next.

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