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USS Texas


kammo-man
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If you have the chance, it's worth a trip to Mobile Alabama for the USS Alabama and USS Drum. Gives great comparison of the old battleship vs. the 'fast' battleships of WWII.

 

Plus there is a cool pin-up artwork on the breech end of one of the 16" guns.

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While in Texas it’s a sin if yiu don’t eat bbq

Here’s killens Posted Image

You know it’s good when there is a line before opening

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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6fea91e4284087642f413475f23cc421.jpg

There was some info

I took myself back in time

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yep, the Texas was having it's fire directed by the 116th Infantry on Omaha Beach that morning. I recall a quote from someone in the 29th on that morning, "...Thank God for the United States Navy...."

 

 

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The Texas got into more action than just providing fire support; a German shell passed through the bridge. There is a photo floating around that shows a gaping hole where the helm was. Happened during the counter-battery mission by Cherbourg.

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Could be, I don't know.

 

From Wikipedia:

"On the morning of 25 June Texas, in company with Arkansas, Nevada, four cruisers and eleven destroyers, closed in on the vital port of Cherbourg to suppress the fortifications and batteries surrounding the town while the US Army's VII Corps attacked the city from the rear. While en route to Cherbourg, the bombardment plan was changed and Task Group 129.2 (TG 129.2), built around Arkansas and Texas, was ordered to move 6 mi (9.7 km)to the east of Cherbourg and engage the guns of Battery Hamburg, a large shore battery composed of four 24-centimetre (9 in) guns.At 12:08, Arkansas was the first to fire at the German positions, while the German gunners waited for Arkansas and Texas to be well in range to return fire. At 12:33, Texas was straddled by three German shells; five minutes later Texas returned fire with a continuous stream of two-gun salvos. The battleship continued her firing runs in spite of shell geysers blossoming about her and difficulty spotting the targets because of smoke; however, the enemy gunners were just as stubborn and skilled. At 13:16, a German 24-cm shell skidded across the top of her conning tower, sheared the top of the fire control periscope off (the periscope remains fell back into the conning tower and wounded the gunnery officer and three others), hit the main support column of the navigation bridge and exploded. The explosion caused the deck of the pilot house above to be blown upwards approximately 4 ft (1.2 m), wrecked the interior of the pilot house, and wounded seven. Of the eleven total casualties from the German shell hit, only one man succumbed to his wounds—the helmsman on duty, Christen Christensen.Texas's commanding officer, Captain Baker, escaped unhurt and quickly had the bridge cleared. The warship herself continued to deliver her 14-inch shells in two-gun salvos and, in spite of damage and casualties, scored a direct hit that penetrated one of the heavily reinforced gun emplacements to destroy the gun inside at 13:35.

At 14:47, an unexploded 24-cm shell was reported. The shell crashed through the port bow directly below the Wardroom and entered the stateroom of Warrant Officer M.A. Clark, but failed to explode. The unexploded shell was later disarmed by a Navy bomb disposal officer in Portsmouth and is currently displayed aboard the ship. Throughout the three-hour duel, the Germans straddled and near-missed Texas over sixty-five times, but she continued her mission firing 206 14-inch shells at Battery Hamburg until ordered to retire at 15:01."

 

This isn't the best photo, since it is hard to see how much of the plating was torn away, but quite a bit:

bb35.jpg

 

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I was right beside that !!

 

 

 

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That is cool! History right there in that spot!

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