Battleship Texas

"Centennial series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A & M University ; no. 45." History of the battleship Texas from its commissioning in 1914 to the present as a tourist attraction.

The USS Texas was built when dreadnought battleships were kings of the seas. It was the world's most powerful battleship when first commissioned in 1914, and for over a century it fought many battles. Some took place while the Texas served as a warship in the US Navy in World Wars I and II. Since becoming a museum ship and war memorial in 1948, it has fought a longer and more difficult struggle as it combats the ravages of time for its very survival. Throughout its existence, the Texas has made history, leaving a wealth of fascinating stories in its wake.

During the first quarter of the 20th century, the major naval powers of the world built hundreds of Dreadnought-style battleships. Today there is only one. The battleship Texas was for a time the most powerful weapon on earth. When it was commissioned in 1914, the 14-inch guns were the largest in the world. This technological marvel of the time served with the British Grand Fleet in World War I and was the flagship of the entire U.S. Navy between the two World Wars. During the Second World War, an older Texas, past its prime, supported amphibious invasions in North Africa, Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The ship and her crew were preparing for the invasion of Japan when the war ended and the Texas came home. No longer needed to defend her country, the Texas was saved from the scrap yard to become our nation's first historic ship museum in 1948. Now lying peacefully in her berth at the San Jacinto State Park near Houston, the battleship Texas is still serving her country-teaching instead of fighting. The Texas is the only battleship remaining in the world today that served in World War I, and the only ship remaining of any type that served in both World Wars. This is the story of the battleship Texas and the brave men who walked its decks. John C. Ferguson is park superintendent at Mission Tejas State Park and the former director of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site where Battleship Texas is located. He is the author of Texas Myths and Legends (McWhiney Foundation Press, 2003) and Hellcats (State House Press, 2004).

In a futuristic world, a nurse practitioner and a doctor are encouraged to begin dating by Voison Noteau, the elderly author of a book that accurately foretold of Boomerangthe moment in 2036 when an asteroid hit Earth and caused a disaster of epic proportions. Unfortunately now some fifty years after Voison penned the prophetic story that was eventually optioned into a Hollywood movie, the original manuscript is missing. When Carol Applegate and Dr. Razguptra finally go on their first date, she is drugged. As Dr. Razguptra attempts to discover who slipped her the drugs, he has no idea that there are those who want Carol silenced because of her knowledge about Voisons book. As a detective and his partner are pulled in to investigate the strange events, Voison reveals a surprising connection between the Malthusian Cartel and Boomerang and the location where he hopes the flash drive containing the manuscript is stored. But little do they know that in their quest to find it, they have all opened themselves up to an evil force determined to keep the truth hidden. In this science fiction adventure, several people become intertwined in a murderous plot after it is discovered they possess knowledge about a book that foretold of a catastrophic event fifty years earlier.

Things that go bump in the night, disembodied voices, footsteps in an empty stairwell, an icy hand on your shoulder ... let your imagination run wild as you read about Texas's most extraordinary apparitions, sinister spooks, and bizarre beasts. You may know of Crazy Man's Tower or San Antonio's haunted railroad crossing, but perhaps you haven't heard about: the White Sanitarium, an abandoned mental institution in Wichita Falls plagued by ghostly forms and spectral noises; the Lady in Green of the McGloin house, who floats persistently over the lake, spurned from unrequited love; and Lake Worth's monster, a mysterious creature inhabiting the area that looks half-human but acts like a feral animal.

After the American Civil War, the US Navy had been allowed to decay into complete insignificance, yet the commissioning of the modern Brazilian battleship Riachuelo and poor performance against the contemporary Spanish fleet, forced the US out of its isolationist posture towards battleships. The first true US battleships began with the experimental Maine and Texas, followed by the three-ship Indiana class, and the Iowa class, which incorporated lessons from the previous ships. These initial ships set the enduring US battleship standard of being heavily armed and armoured at the expense of speed. This fully illustrated study examines these first six US battleships, a story of political compromises, clean sheet designs, operational experience, and experimental improvements. These ships directly inspired the creation of an embryonic American military-industrial complex, enabled a permanent outward-looking shift in American foreign policy and laid the foundations of the modern US Navy.