Texas-Sized Bragging Rights: Sub gets ceremonial start with first lady's praise

Newport News Daily Press | July 13, 2002 | Michael Fabey

[TADSLOS]

God Bless the USS Texas and our First Lady.

[phasma proeliator]

"God Bless the USS Texas and our First Lady. "

BUMP

[Gaston]

"Texans love to brag," Mrs. Bush said.

It ain't bragging if it's true.

[ArrogantBustard]

"Give me a fast ship and a good crew, for I intend to sail into harm's way."
-John Paul Jones

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We were all sworn in as honorary Texans when Hayden Fry came up to Iowa to teach us how to play football again.

[ArrogantBustard]

USS Texas BB35

[ArrogantBustard]

An Earlier USS Texas

[ArrogantBustard]

USS Texas CGN39

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

USS Texas BB35

Nice photo!

My family and I just spent this past weekend aboard BB59 USS Massachusetts. Man those Tin Cans are huge!

Quite an experience.

[ArrogantBustard]

Thanks. The builders, officers and men of USS Texas SSN 775 have a proud tradition to build on. Godspeed USS Texas!

[Gumlegs]

Ak! "Tin cans" are destroyers. A modern U.S. destroyer is about 8,000 tons displacement. The Iowa class battleships, the last we ever built, displaced about 57,540 tons. The turrets on the Iowas weigh more than destroyers.

[Gaston]

We were all sworn in as honorary Texans when Hayden Fry came up to Iowa to teach us how to play football again.

Congradulations on your Texas naturalization.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I always thought that the battleships were referred to as "Tin Cans".

But you're right. I just looked it up. My bad.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

BTW, we were onboard the Destroyer, Joseph P. Kennedy as well. Also an impressive vessel.

[Gumlegs]

Sorry. It's a pet peeve. I was in the Navy. Mostly, I get aggravated when so-called reporters say "U.S. battleships" did this or that when we haven't had a battleship in commission since the first Bush administration.

That having been said, I am immoderately jealous of your trip. I've been trying to get aboard a battleship -- using the technical term -- since I was a kid. I'm hoping that this summer I'll have time to get down to Camden and inspect U.S.S. New Jersey.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA isn't an extreme drive from New Jersey...maybe 6 hours?

It would be worth the trip. Click here.

If you go, pick a day that isn't too hot. It gets rather warm way below decks on Broadway and that's where all the 'good' stuff is.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

In return for this favor, and all the bowl games Hayden took us to, the people of Iowa sent Texas some beef you could actually eat.<only kidding, of course)

[Gumlegs]

Thanks for the tips ... especially the one about the weather.

[T Baden]

I watched Hayden Fry quarterback the Odessa High School Bronchos to the state championship in 1946 (that was one of the best high school teams ever assembled - and it was assembled; rumor is that various oil companies transferred workers who had good football playing sons to Odessa in order to "manufacture" such a team; fourteen seniors on the team became starters on various college teams the next year).

Our son is currently in Naval nuclear school - hope he gets to serve on the Texas! He is a chemical engineering graduate of Texas A&M. I'm sure he and others would like to see an all Texas crew on that sub! (Probably they'd really prefer an All-Aggie crew - I can hear the Aggie jokes already starting if such were the case.)