Author: Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Battleships
Languages : en
Pages : 20
Book Description
The Story of the USS Texas
Author: Historic Battleship Texas
Author: John C. FergusonPublisher: TX A&m-McWhiney Foundation
ISBN: 9781933337074
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
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).
Ship of Ghosts
Author: James D. HornfischerPublisher: Bantam
ISBN: 0307490882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 577
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Son, we’re going to Hell." The navigator of the USS Houston confided these prophetic words to a young officer as he and his captain charted a course into U.S. naval legend. Renowned as FDR’s favorite warship, the cruiser USS Houston was a prize target trapped in the far Pacific after Pearl Harbor. Without hope of reinforcement, her crew faced a superior Japanese force ruthlessly committed to total conquest. It wasn’t a fair fight, but the men of the Houston would wage it to the death. Hornfischer brings to life the awesome terror of nighttime naval battles that turned decks into strobe-lit slaughterhouses, the deadly rain of fire from Japanese bombers, and the almost superhuman effort of the crew as they miraculously escaped disaster again and again–until their luck ran out during a daring action in Sunda Strait. There, hopelessly outnumbered, the Houston was finally sunk and its survivors taken prisoner. For more than three years their fate would be a mystery to families waiting at home. In the brutal privation of jungle POW camps dubiously immortalized in such films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, the war continued for the men of the Houston—a life-and-death struggle to survive forced labor, starvation, disease, and psychological torture. Here is the gritty, unvarnished story of the infamous Burma–Thailand Death Railway glamorized by Hollywood, but which in reality mercilessly reduced men to little more than animals, who fought back against their dehumanization with dignity, ingenuity, sabotage, will–power—and the undying faith that their country would prevail. Using journals and letters, rare historical documents, including testimony from postwar Japanese war crimes tribunals, and the eyewitness accounts of Houston’s survivors, James Hornfischer has crafted an account of human valor so riveting and awe-inspiring, it’s easy to forget that every single word is true. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from James D. Hornfischer's Neptune's Inferno.
"Old Hoodoo"
Author: Mark D. CowanPublisher:
ISBN: 9781466248946
Category : Spanish-American War, 1898
Languages : en
Pages : 411
Book Description
The Texas was early-on considered something of an ugly duckling in the Navy, often characterized as a clumsy "hoodoo", or jinxed ship. Her service in the Spanish American War proved her to be a late bloomer, an odd-looking ship that met the challenges of combat and served her nation well as a critical step in the development of the New Navy. Perhaps being seen as the least valuable battleship in the Navy and therefore the most expendable, the Texas found herself in the enviable position of seeing more action than any other capital vessel in the US Fleet. The Texas shone in every engagement in which she was committed. She took part in the search for the Spanish fleet. She also participated in the first significant independent Marine Corps action in history when she provided critical support in their capture of Guantanamo Bay. She then provided support to the Army in the invasion of Cuba and the subsequent investiture of Santiago, engaging a number of Spanish forts in the process. Off Santiago, she took the first hit by an enemy gun and the first combat death for the Navy, being struck by enemy shells in two different actions. At the Naval Battle of Santiago she steamed aggressively forward into the thick of battle and directly engaged six warships of the Spanish fleet. Though clearly obsolescent, few patriotic sailors would not have wanted to walk her powder and blood-stained decks. The Texas was conceived in an era when the US Navy was attempting to arise from the post-Civil War neglect that had crippled its ability to assert itself in international waters. It was a period of great change, both technologically and in the development of the theory of naval power as espoused by Alfred Thayer Mahan. She sailed in the time before the US Navy had reached the renowned strength and professionalism it exhibited in World Wars One and Two, but contributed immeasurably to this achievement. This is the illustrated story of the design, construction, and operational history of the USS Texas of 1895, America's first battleship and hero of the Spanish-American War. Hundreds of historic photos and plans combined with exhaustively researched text capture the spirit of the age, as well as the technological details of the ship.
BATTLESHIP TEXAS
Author: Mark LardasPublisher: History Press Library Editions
ISBN: 9781540200112
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 130
Book Description
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."
History-US Battleship Texas
Author: American Battleships
Author: Max R. NewhartPublisher:
ISBN: 9781575100043
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 118
Book Description
A comprehensive and fully illustrated overview and history of American battleships.
Galveston's the Elissa
Author: Kurt D. VossPublisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738578552
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
For nearly three decades, the 1877 sailing ship Elissa has been widely recognized as one of the finest maritime preservation projects in the world. Unlike some tall ships of today, the Elissa is not a replica but a survivor. Over her century-long commercial history, she carried cargoes to ports around the world for a succession of owners. Her working life as a freighter came to an end in Piraeus, Greece, where she was rescued from the salvage yard by a variety of ship preservationists who refused to let her die. The story of Elissa's discovery and restoration by the Galveston Historical Foundation is nothing short of miraculous.
The Ship That Would Not Die
Author: Stephen CurleyPublisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1603444270
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
Starting its life as an attack transport in World War II—and one of the last five left afloat by war’s end—the USS Queens saw action at Iwo Jima and other hot spots in the Pacific theater. After the war, the ship became the SS Excambion, one of the “Four Aces” of American Export Lines: the only fully air-conditioned ships in the world at the time. In 1965, the versatile Excambion underwent yet another transformation—into a floating classroom. Recommissioned as the USTS Texas Clipper, the ship began a third life as a merchant marine training vessel with its home port in Galveston. For the next three decades the Texas Clipper would be home to merchant marine cadets, and by the time it was retired in 1996, it was the oldest active ship in the U.S. merchant marine fleet. Finally, the Texas Clipper, after protracted bureaucratic wrangling, was designated to be sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef to provide habitat for marine life. In 2007, the ship was towed to its final resting place, seventeen nautical miles off the coast of South Padre Island. Now, 136 feet below the surface, the venerable Texas Clipper lives on as the home to a wide variety of underwater species. Filled not only with meticulously researched technical and historical data about the ship’s construction, service record, crew procedures, and voyages, The Ship That Would Not Die also features lively anecdotes from crew members, passengers, and officers. More than 140 color and black-and-white photos illustrate the ship’s construction, its wide variety of shipboard life, the exacting process of making the Texas Clipper ready to become an artificial reef, and its final sinking in the Gulf of Mexico.
US Navy Battleships 1886–98
Author: Brian Lane HerderPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472835042
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 49
Book Description
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.