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Bids Sought to Keep Texas Shipshape

Thursday, November 8, 2012

More items for Program/Project Management

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is inviting bids for repairs and recoating work on the historic battleship USS Texas (BB-35).

Bids will be opened Jan. 8, 2013.

The only surviving U.S. Navy vessel that fought in both world wars—and the second Navy ship named for the Lone Star State—the USS Texas was commissioned March 12, 1914.

Scope of Work

The project involves performing various repairs on the historic 573-foot-long, 95-foot-beam decommissioned vessel, which is the oldest remaining dreadnought battleship.

The work includes applying an epoxy system to new and repaired steel surfaces. The existing coatings are presumed to contain lead; the project will also require asbestos abatement.

Doug’s Rust Collection

The USS Texas is the only surviving U.S. Navy vessel to have fought in World Wars I and II.

The ship cannot be moved, so all of the work will need to be performed at her current location near Houston, TX.

About the Ship

The USS Texas saw action soon after her commissioning, during the “Tampico Incident” in Mexican waters. The ship made numerous sorties into the North Sea during World War I and escorted war convoys across the Atlantic when the United States formally entered World War II in 1941.

Texas later shelled Axis-held beaches for the North African campaign and the Normandy landing before being sent to the Pacific Theater during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa to provide naval gunfire.

The ship's last operational mission returned 4,267 troops from the Pacific to California in time for Christmas in 1945, according to the Battleship Texas Foundation.

By the time she was decommissioned in 1948, Texas had earned five battle stars for service in World War II.

The Texas became the first battleship memorial museum in the United States, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

That was just one of many “firsts” for the battleship. She was also the first to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers, and the first to launch an aircraft.

Reported by Paint BidTracker, a construction reporting service devoted to identifying contracting opportunities for the coatings community. Visit us on Facebook.

Comment from Tom Schwerdt, (11/8/2012, 9:01 AM)

"Cannot be moved" is probably pretty accurate. I hope the dry-berthing project is completed in time. She needs a lot of work.