TexasCHLforum.com

"LA PORTE— The Battleship Texas Foundation (BTF) has selected Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corporation’s Galveston shipyard as the location for the repair of the Battleship Texas. With the support of the Battleship Texas Foundation and Valkor Energy Services (BTF’s project management and engineering firm for the ship repair), Gulf Copper recently acquired a floating drydock capable of lifting the Battleship Texas out of the water for necessary and extensive hull repairs.


Gulf Copper’s new drydock acquisition is a critical milestone in the Battleship Texas’s $35 million hull repair project. Gulf Copper’s new drydock makes their Galveston shipyard viable for the Battleship Texas hull repair. In addition, the location of the yard in Galveston significantly reduces the risk of towing the Battleship to drydock since the tow is both in sheltered waters and the distance is much shorter than other potential options. The project group including the BTF, the operator of the Battleship Texas, Valkor, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the ship’s owner, has worked carefully to mitigate the risks to the ship throughout the entire project. The Battleship Texas is projected to enter Gulf Copper’s new Galveston drydock in the second quarter of 2022, after the dry dock is made ready for the battleship.


Since the ship closed to the public in August 2019, BTF, TPWD, and Valkor have worked to prepare the ship for the shipyard. As one of one the preparation activities, Resolve Marine Group was contracted in 2020 to prepare the ship for tow by BTF and Valkor. BTF, Resolve, and Valkor worked for six months to drastically reduce the amount of water leaking into the Battleship Texas. By installing over 750,000 gallons of expanded foam, this team reduced the leak rate from 2,000 gallons per minute to under 20 gallons per minute, making the ship significantly safer to tow.
The Battleship Texas Foundation operates the Battleship Texas under a 99-year memorandum of understanding from TPWD who owns the battleship. In 2019, the Texas legislature passed SB1511 directing TPWD to enter a 99-year lease with a qualified nonprofit to operate the ship. In the same session, the legislature appropriated $35 million to fund the hull repair of Battleship Texas."

https://battleshiptexas.org/battleship-updates/

not sure if everyone saw this .

oohrah wrote: ↑Mon Dec 20, 2021 10:10 am

puma guy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:52 am Enjoyed watching that. Learned a lot about the old girl. I just wish she could stay by the monument. I am glad to see her get the treatment she deserves. My dad was a vet and the man who was in charge of the battleship was a client. He gave us kids the grand tour deep into the bowels of the ship.

The problem is (almost) nobody visits the ship at the SJM, so revenues and state support is lacking. Making it a museum ship at Pelican Island which already has a submarine and Destroyer Escort would increase its visibility dramatically.

i cant imagine the amount of money it will take to move her , much less build an im poundment hole to float her in and then fill with concrete
they had planned to do this where she floats now, but money stopped it.

its a very educational item, we enjoyed our visits and learn something new each time. one weird one is at the end of ww2 she was used to return troops home and had something like an extra 1k or more troops on board for the arduous trip home, with almost all the "passengers" bunked outside on the the decks and in every little spot they could put a man.
incredible journey is an understatement