Texana Thursday: Tales of the USS Texas (all four of them)

Many people know that the battleship USS Texas is permanently moored at the San Jacinto Battleground east of Houston. Yet this wasn’t the first, nor the last, ship to be named in honor of the Lone Star State. Three other U.S. Navy ships have had that distinction.

The first battleship Texas

The first USS Texas was launched in 1892 and commissioned in 1895. It had a length of 309 feet, a beam (or width) of 64 feet, and a displacement of 6,315 tons.

The Texas served in the Spanish-American War, and played a role in the sinking of two Spanish cruisers.

In February 1911, the Navy renamed the ship USS San Marcos, intending to use the name Texas for a new battleship. Meanwhile, the Navy used the San Marcos as a target ship and sank it in the shallow waters of Chesapeake Bay near Tangier Island. The wreckage proved a navigation hazard, and was blasted with explosives in 1959.

The second battleship Texas

As mentioned earlier, this is the battleship Texas that comes to mind for many people. It was launched in 1912 and commissioned in 1914. It had a length of 573 feet, a beam of 95 feet, and a displacement of 27,000 tons.

During the World War I years, the Texas was used primarily for tactical purposes in the North Sea. Later, the Texas was among the ships present upon the surrender of the German Imperial Fleet.

During the World War II years, the Texas saw duty mostly in the Atlantic Ocean. It served as an escort for convoys bring much-needed supplies to Europe. It later supported the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach before being transferred to the Pacific Ocean in 1945 to support the Marine landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

The battleship was decommissioned, and in 1948 (appropriately enough, on April 21, San Jacinto Day) the Texas was presented to the State of Texas. It was recommissioned as the flagship of the Texas Navy and placed in its permanent berth at the San Jacinto Battleground.

The guided missile cruiser Texas

The third USS Texas was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser launched in August, 1975. It had a length of 585 feet, a beam of 63 feet, and a displacement of 11,300 tons. The Texas had a crew of 39 officers and 539 enlisted men.

The Texas served in support of Operation Eagle Claw, the ill-fated 1980 rescue mission designed to end the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Later it served in support of Operation Desert Storm.

The cruiser was decommissioned in 1993. Its hulk was recycled at the Puget Sound (Washington) Naval Yard in 2001.

The submarine Texas

The present USS Texas was launched in 2006 at the Port of Galveston. The submarine has a length of 377 feet, a waterline beam of 34 feet, a navigational draft of 32 feet, and a displacement of approximately 7,800 tons when submerged. It can dive to depths greater than 800 feet, and can sustain speeds of more than 25 knots when submerged.

Like its battleship predecessors, the submarine began its service as a part of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. At the time, the Texas was based at Groton, Connecticut. It was later transferred to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.