Posted on 01/04/2026 8:49:07 PM PST by texas booster
Frequently Asked Questions:
New Home? We’re proud to have finalized an agreement with the Galveston Wharves Board securing Pier 15 as the new home of Battleship Texas. Learn more at https://battleshiptexas.org/coming-soon
What’s Next? Battleship Texas will remain at Gulf Copper Shipyard for now and restoration will continue until her new home at Pier 15 is ready for her.
Current Projects? Ongoing work includes replacing the wooden deck, running electrical cabling around the ship, paint prep in interior spaces, replacing the turret watersheds, restoring the 20 mm, 40 mm, and 3" guns, and other projects.
Touring? No tours are being offered at this time. Specialty tours, like the Normandy Tour, Gunnery Tour, and Engineering Tour will return after our 2026 reopening.
Reopening? There is a lot to be done before the ship is ready for touring at her new home at Pier 15, Galveston, Texas. We are targeting 2026 for reopening at Pier 15
A ping out to the Texas Ping list, founded by Windflier.
A midwinter update on the newest tourist attraction in Galveston, the restored Battleship Texas!
Another special Texas winter edition for your perusal.
As always, please FReepmail me if you want on or off the Texas Ping list.
Blessings, and stay warm!
Stay warm? How about stay cool! Worst winter ever.
My hubby and I visited the Battleship Texas years ago...but I can’t for the life of me remember where it was moored at the time. It was a great tour.
I like to see things in their original condition, but know things have to be restored at some point I guess, or they fall apart. It does kind of take away the sense of the ones who were there before, though.
It was at the Houston ship canal area, right next to Battle of San Jacinto monument, the big concrete tower with a star on top.
It was berthed at the San Jacinto Battlefield Historic Site in Harris County, Houston.
Glad Texas was saved but I wish a lot more of the pre-ww2 battleships were saved as well
Thanks, y’all. I remember now! My brother used to live not terribly far from the monument when he lived in Pasadena. I think. LOL!
Same here. I think it was 1972, and I couldn’t remember exactly where it was either. Thanks to other freepers for clearing that up. I was stationed in Del Rio then.
FReepers helping FReepers! And thank YOU for your service! But Del Rio? You poor thing. LOL! Of course there is Lake Amsted there. Was it there in ‘72?
“Glad Texas was saved but I wish a lot more of the pre-ww2 battleships were saved as well”
Yes, I could be wrong, but I think ‘Texas’ is the last WWI era BB. The rest were scrapped or even nuked; (’Arkansas’ and ‘Nevada’). There are a few from the ‘30s existing as museums. To me one of the worst was scrapping CV-6 Enterprise, almost the last pre-war CV.
One of the very few memories of mine from the age of two (that would be 72.5 years ago) was touring the Battleship Texas with my Mom and Dad at Galveston. I don’t remember much of it beyond being big and gray, and both Mom and Dad holding my hands tight, to keep me out of mischief.
Anyway, thanks for dredging up that memory.
I’ve visited the Texas a number of times, starting in 1977 when it still had the concrete deck, followed by several visits with my kids through the 1990s and early 2000s. The last time I took my son we were blessed by a ship staffer who noticed our deep interest, and led us on a descent into the bowels of the ship via portable extension ladders, all the way to the emergency steering room in the stern. A lifetime memory for my son and me. Looking forward to seeing her in her restored glory.
I went with my son’s scout troop for a spend the night on the battleship event about 15 years ago.
We got the grand tour, bow to stern, top to bottom.
The scouts slept in the crew berthing area on swing cots.
Thanks texasbooster, nice modern history topic.
Does anyone know about the state of preservation of Admiral Dewey’s flagship Olympia - a pre-dreadnought class ship. It used to be a museum ship in Philadelphia. Is it still on display? I would always see it from afar on business trips to Philly. I remember reading somewhere that it was in a bad state of preservation. It was sliding into oblivion like Grant’s Tomb did in NYC.
On the USS North Carolina (BB-55), the main deck is wood.
That was a surprise to me the first time I went aboard.
USS Texas - 104 years old and still going [2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eoJCs3_Q9g
Yes it was there in 72. I was there for 8 years and 10 months. I did not like to move much, plus we could play softball almost 9 months of the year, and the airfield was not open 24 hours, so we had lots of off time. That’s why I never volunteered to leave Del Rio. They finally found me, and sent me to Germany. 😀
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