- Thread starter Dean
- Start date
Yes you need to go we went about 3 years ago on our anniversary and is well worth the trip just to see how they loaded the powder bags pushed the shell and fired in a small space. And if you are in to history the San Jacinto monument is right there close and let?s you see how Texas gained freedom from Mexico.
Russ from MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Bemidji MN
I have toured the Alabama, really enjoyed it, and there was a submarine there too, probably WW1. I remember the Fairbanks-Morse engines, with the crankshaft on top and bottom. Am I right?
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Be sure to register for the "Hard Hat Tour" before you go. They only offer it certain times of the year, check the schedule.
You have to make a reservation as they limit the number per tour, but it get's you deeper into the ship, places the nonguided visitors can't go. Well worth the cost!
Hopefully the engine room will be open, it was closed last time I was there.
Be ready to be amazed if you've never been in before. The ultimate in heavy duty! Mind boggling that that much steel can float!
You have to make a reservation as they limit the number per tour, but it get's you deeper into the ship, places the nonguided visitors can't go. Well worth the cost!
Hopefully the engine room will be open, it was closed last time I was there.
Be ready to be amazed if you've never been in before. The ultimate in heavy duty! Mind boggling that that much steel can float!
olgentdc
Well-known Member
My son just toured the Alabama
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Looks like the engine room and 3rd deck are opening this month.
The tours are mostly limited to the cooler months, just too hot in the heat of summer. The websites are not looking up to date, so an email or phone call will get the latest schedules.
How are you getting there? If driving, get off the freeway before Houston (Houston traffic is the most horrible experience this side of He!!, and that may be debatable!) Skirt around east of town and take the Lynchburg Ferry to San Jacinto. The ferry drops you right at the San Jacinto Battle Ground.
That's where the ship is. Also the San Jacinto Battle Ground, where Santa Anna met his match, and the San Jacinto Monument. The monument is a museum, and an elevator ride to the top, amazing view!
Have fun!
The tours are mostly limited to the cooler months, just too hot in the heat of summer. The websites are not looking up to date, so an email or phone call will get the latest schedules.
How are you getting there? If driving, get off the freeway before Houston (Houston traffic is the most horrible experience this side of He!!, and that may be debatable!) Skirt around east of town and take the Lynchburg Ferry to San Jacinto. The ferry drops you right at the San Jacinto Battle Ground.
That's where the ship is. Also the San Jacinto Battle Ground, where Santa Anna met his match, and the San Jacinto Monument. The monument is a museum, and an elevator ride to the top, amazing view!
Have fun!
Funny when you read the about the first steel hull freighters under sail and people were taking bets at the launchings the damn thing would sink as soon as it hit the water. Only wood hulls float! Could they ever think of super ships that can carry over 7000 containers in the hull never mind the ones on deck. The super containers the newly widened Panama is too small already!
macec3(TX)
Member
I had a neighbor who served on the Battleship Texas during WWII. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 96. I would have liked to tour that ship again with him. One could only imagine the stories he could tell. A tour with him would be a lot more informative and interesting.
RBnSC
Well-known Member
We were touring the ship with my fil. He was looking for the carpentry shop. He was a carpenter and worked and slept in the same space. He said when he left the ship they were moving the shop, so he was having a hard time finding it. We had all but given up when we were standing in a space looking down in a hatch that they had held open with a chain fall. When all of a sudden he shouted this is it. This is where it was. Then explained to us how it was laid out. I remember him pointing to a space behind a big pipe coming out of the floor and said that is where took his mattress and went when he didn't want to be found.
We left there and went to the world's fair in New Orleans. It was an enjoyable trip. I it meant a great deal to him that we shared it with him.
Ron
We left there and went to the world's fair in New Orleans. It was an enjoyable trip. I it meant a great deal to him that we shared it with him.
Ron
Logan in SE Texas
Member
I would suggest a phone call or e-mail to check on tour availability. The last I heard, in the last year I think, she was in pretty bad shape again. I have been 3 times, first in 1994 with my dad and uncle who both served in WWII. Dad was a paratrooper in the 82nd and uncle did mechanical work on the big planes. Both had stories of being transported on ships and neither cared for the experience.
I would also strongly suggest going to the San Jacinto Monument, it is right there. There are small monuments between the ship and big monument that you should read. One has pieces of Sam Houston's diary before and after the Battle, reading them will give a new insight into his thinking and dependence on God. IMHO it is nothing short of a miracle that Santa Ana was defeated, so many things happened just right that allowed the Texians to win! I have loved Texas history since early childhood and the more I learn the more I am amazed at how we became a Country and a State.
I would also strongly suggest going to the San Jacinto Monument, it is right there. There are small monuments between the ship and big monument that you should read. One has pieces of Sam Houston's diary before and after the Battle, reading them will give a new insight into his thinking and dependence on God. IMHO it is nothing short of a miracle that Santa Ana was defeated, so many things happened just right that allowed the Texians to win! I have loved Texas history since early childhood and the more I learn the more I am amazed at how we became a Country and a State.
I second this. The hard hat tour is well worth doing. I had been a few times over the years, but had never taken the hard hat tour until a few years ago. The engine room was open then, but I have also heard that as hard as they were working to save her, sounded like they were losing ground. It would be a shame to lose this piece of history. As said, check before you go, but definitely go. My next tour will be the Lexington at Corpus. And by the way, they did have a pretty good website for the Texas at one time, but I haven't checked in a long time.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Actually she's berthed, sitting in concrete at the San Jacinto Battle Grounds, adjacent to the Houston Ship Channel where Sam Houston whooped Santa Anna. While there be sure and tour the museum of early pioneers at the base of the monument and go up in the star....550' of stairs as I recall but I was a youngster the last time I made the journey. One thing that's great is the park. Great place to take a gal for a Sunday afternoon's picnic and a little smooching on the blanket. Wink!
One thing really interesting about Texas History: At the State library in Austin, are statues of Houston and Santa Anna, full size, on either side of the entrance door. Checking out the belt buckles of both you'll find commonality with the top of the pyramid on the back of a $1 bill. Interesting and interesting that Houston let him go back to Mexico with a promise that he would never return. As far as I know he never did.
One thing really interesting about Texas History: At the State library in Austin, are statues of Houston and Santa Anna, full size, on either side of the entrance door. Checking out the belt buckles of both you'll find commonality with the top of the pyramid on the back of a $1 bill. Interesting and interesting that Houston let him go back to Mexico with a promise that he would never return. As far as I know he never did.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Here's a story to tell. Somewhere (conspicuously located) in the ship, sitting on it's base, on dislply, is a 14ish inch, thousand pound(s of TNT give or take) projectile that hit the ship and never exploded. For the folks involved in that battle and those associated with the shell, maybe being at your duty station when that sucker came crashing through the bulkhead, maybe within arm's reach..........thanks but no thanks.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
I was also a tourist, on board the USS Alabama battleship, on display in Mobile, and those were my thoughts. How about designing the thing, down to the last rivet. Calculating where the water line will be, buoyancy, will the engines stay in their mounts or the torque rip them out; will the props twist the shafts into, on and on. Course Corpus Christi, Tx. Bay has a carrier, at the Naval Station as I recall. Don't remember the name nor history. Thought many times about a trip down there just to tour her. I am easily awed and things like this make me really appreciate and respect those in the know that design and build things about us in which we live.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Just have to displace an equal weight of water to float....but you also have to get it right to get the water line where you want it. The thing about container ships are two: The engine. I think at least one of them is built in Japan. Saw pictures of the process....mind boggling.
The second is ballast required below to offset the weight topside....really look top heavy and imagine that with a "Perfect Storm"...movie, Rogue Wave and all.....course it'd take a REAL rogue to capsize one of those suckers, buttttt lots of weight up high. Best ship for a RW would be a super tanker with a full load I'd assume.
The second is ballast required below to offset the weight topside....really look top heavy and imagine that with a "Perfect Storm"...movie, Rogue Wave and all.....course it'd take a REAL rogue to capsize one of those suckers, buttttt lots of weight up high. Best ship for a RW would be a super tanker with a full load I'd assume.
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