What a beauty!
We were all really excited to explore the Battleship Texas!
And us being vets meant no charge to do it.
Me with the Jack.
Looking back from the bow.
I had to do a little research on the paint scheme. The Lincoln & the Canopus that I'd been stationed on were the ordinary haze gray you normally see, but this is considerably darker. This is called "Measure 21 camouflage" Being darker (they say this is blue) makes it harder to see from the air and with searchlights. On the downside, it's very visible from the surface.
Looking forward from the foc'sle between the 14" guns.
Just some flashacks to when I spent a lot of time on sea & anchor duty on the Canopus....
The view from the Bridge.
Just a reminder of how steep the ladders are. And a reminder on how much we appreciated the high shafts on our boots, because the backs of our ankles got scraped up because we were wearing tennis shoes. None of us were willing to try sliding down the rails like we did when we were younger!
There's one thing I have to say about Navy ships...no matter how big or small (HERE is a post from 2014 when we explored the USS Edson DD946 - it was so tiny!!), there's a universal smell and feel that they all have. So exploring the Texas still flooded us all with memories.
We all spent many an hour manning a swab.
Shells
Looking back at the fantail.
This area was blocked off due to some remodeling.
btw - the flooding that was in the news happened about a week and a half after we were there - I promise it wasn't our fault!!
In fact, we yelled at idiots for climbing on places that they shouldn't have been.
Morons don't realize that those rails are probably only held together with paint! I sure wouldn't want to sit on them!
Playing on the guns. 40mm machine guns
I was moving the gun up & down, Gin was moving it left & right.
Let's go inside!
Dishes & rifles....
Operating Room
We all had a good laugh over this room.
Lockers aren't much bigger on modern ships.
The Head aka bathroom.
They had a soda fountain! Those are glass jugs of Coke syrup.
The ship's store.
Gin & I had to check out the post office.
These are triced up racks without mattresses. Interesting that they must have expected the postal clerks to sleep in the post office. I thought I got pictures of berthing areas, but I guess not. They had racks in passageways and any nook & cranny they could fit in, so the PCs at least had some privacy!.
More cubbies to sort mail.
The ship's bell.
The ship seemed to be aimed right at this San Jacinto Monument.
If you want to see more pictures and explanations of spaces the general public usually doesn't get to go, check out this thread from Kevin on MilitaryFirearm.com.
It's pretty awesome.
I wanted to stop at an authentic taco truck for dinner on the way back to the apartment, but we ended up stopping at a Mexican restaurant called Dos Amigos for some real yummy Mexican foods. I had the "Senorita Special" with a guac salad, beef taco, cheese enchilada, tamale, refried beans & rice. Heaven!
How interesting! That gun is huge! Not much privacy in the bathroom. That would bother me. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThere wasn't much privacy for any of the sailors. Modern ships aren't much better, but at least there are doors on the stalls!
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