Battleship Texas Has Leak - Page 2 - Historum

**tjadams** · June 14th, 2012, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bil73

I think it would be safe to bet that the money the north carolina and texas bring in each day arent used for the up keep of the ship (Im sure a small % is but not nearly enough)

Quote:

Estimated Cost: While Texas Parks and Wildlife Department disagrees, my estimate of the total restoration package including market value of donated in-kind services ($ millions), actual costs of contracts that were underbid, shipyard, and site redevelopment puts the cost of the project from $18-21,000,000, 1987-1991.

Historic Naval Ships Association - Underwater Hull Preservation Case Studies

I know if I were a millionaire, I'd give a few million.

**diddyriddick** · June 14th, 2012, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjadams

Good catch. I knew there was far, far more to preserving Old Ironsides
than school kids collecting nickles in jars. I just couldn't come up with the
answer.

Beyond that, I suspect (though I have no hard data) that the corrosive effects of salt water are actually harder on the iron hull of modern warships than on all-wood sailing ships-wood doesn't rust.

**pikeshot1600** · June 14th, 2012, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diddyriddick

Beyond that, I suspect (though I have no hard data) that the corrosive effects of salt water are actually harder on the iron hull of modern warships than on all-wood sailing ships-wood doesn't rust.

The Royal Navy had one ship (that I know of) that was launched as HMS Prince in 1670, reconstructed near the end of that century, and renamed HMS Royal William in 1719. She served until 1813!!! The last twenty-some years as a guardship in one of the RN harbors.

There is longevity for you, but not with a steel hull. And the technology of naval warfare really didn't change much in all those years.

M82A1A · June 14th, 2012, 12:26 PM

I had the opportunity to spend the night on the Texas in January. It was a great visit and something that my wife and I will remember for a long time. The ship has had leaks before and I'm hopeful that this latest leak gets resolved quickly.

Hopefully, this event will give a little more urgency to the dry berth project.

bil73 · June 16th, 2012, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tjadams

Historic Naval Ships Association - Underwater Hull Preservation Case Studies

I know if I were a millionaire, I'd give a few million.

wow that is crazy money! i wonder how much it took to originally build the Texas.It seems like the government could lend a hand in restoring these historic ships so my grandkids could someday take their grandkids and say "this is like your great great grandfather served on in WW2". because just like the CW battlefields that are we are slowly losing to developers once they are gone they are gone

**botully** · June 16th, 2012, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bil73

wow that is crazy money! i wonder how much it took to originally build the Texas.It seems like the government could lend a hand in restoring these historic ships so my grandkids could someday take their grandkids and say "this is like your great great grandfather served on in WW2". because just like the CW battlefields that are we are slowly losing to developers once they are gone they are gone

Probably around $200 million in today's dollars.

I know the Iowa's were built with a fifty-year hull life in mind, I don't know about Texas. That, of course, assumes regular maintenance, like periodic dry-docking, repainting, etc. That is extremely costly, especially for a memorial.

I've read that the Olympia (been on her many times, even below decks) requires $11 million minimum for restoration. That's a lot of money. Still, given how the feds throw around billions, I think they could come up with, say, $50 million to preserve these wonderful ships (Texas, Olympia, N.Carolina, Massachusetts etc.).
The worst "crime" is the failure to preserve Enterprise.

PragmaticStatistic · June 16th, 2012, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by botully

Probably around $200 million in today's dollars.

I know the Iowa's were built with a fifty-year hull life in mind, I don't know about Texas. That, of course, assumes regular maintenance, like periodic dry-docking, repainting, etc. That is extremely costly, especially for a memorial.

I've read that the Olympia (been on her many times, even below decks) requires $11 million minimum for restoration. That's a lot of money. Still, given how the feds throw around billions, I think they could come up with, say, $50 million to preserve these wonderful ships (Texas, Olympia, N.Carolina, Massachusetts etc.).
The worst "crime" is the failure to preserve Enterprise.

I believe that is the reason why many of the 150+ historical museum ships I potted in my Google Map of Historic Ships Preserved in Google Map are on land. Others that I could not plot, because you cannot see them, were indoors.

Fire_Raven · June 16th, 2012, 05:59 AM

Maybe we could start a super pac for it....

Virgil · June 16th, 2012, 06:02 AM

I hope they get their act together on this one. This ship needs to be maintained.

Top 3 reasons for the destruction of the aircraft carrier Enterprise after WW2:

1. We are stupid.

2. We are arrogant.

3. We are morons.

**diddyriddick** · June 16th, 2012, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Virgil

I hope they get their act together on this one. This ship needs to be maintained.

Top 3 reasons for the destruction of the aircraft carrier Enterprise after WW2:

1. We are stupid.

2. We are arrogant.

3. We are morons.

I disagree. It is no secret that I love naval history, and CV-6 was my favorite ship of WWII. But we have to put this in context of the times. America had just spent a fortune in both lives and treasure fighting WWII. We had 30ish fleet carriers (not to mention light and escort carriers). People were tired of war, and its costs. The little public support there was for preserving museum ships could be directly linked to pride in ones own state rather than in a particular ship, however noble a heritage she might have. As a taxpayer, I'd have real trouble with my tax dollars being used for this.