The USS Texas, the last remaining warship to have seen action in both world wars, is now making a stately towed journey from its former home at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site near Houston to a shipyard in Galveston for much-needed repairs.
The legendary battleship was commissioned in March 1914 and made several combat sorties into the North Sea region during World War I. The Texas later escorted war convoys across the Atlantic in World War II and shelled the beaches at Normandy during the D-Day invasion in 1944.
The battleship earned a total of five battle stars for its service in both the European and Pacific theaters in World War II.
The 110-year-old battleship Texas was decommissioned in 1948, later becoming the first battleship to become a permanent museum ship and to be declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark. It is the only remaining WWI-era dreadnought battleship.
The U.S. Coast Guard set up a moving security cordon around the battleship during the trip to Galveston.
There was a slim possibility the USS Texas could be too fragile for the trip, which was expected to take several hours.
“The risk is leaking, and leaking severe enough that it might sink,” Tony Gregory, president of the Battleship Texas Foundation, told the Houston Chronicle.
The future home of the USS Texas is uncertain once the repairs are completed. It is unlikely to be returned to its former home, the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, which secured Texas’ independence from Mexico. Officials said there weren’t enough visitors over the years to provide sufficient funding for its upkeep
Several other cities in the Houston area have expressed interest in hosting the USS Texas.