The venerable Battleship Texas, moored in a cubbyhole off the Houston ship channel is back in action after alarming leaks in her rusty 99-year old hull last week threatened to sink her. Patched with $300,000 worth of aluminum plates (tinfoil compared with the ship’s 12″ thick armor) and epoxy, the temporary patches have allowed the popular tourist attraction to re-open, as she waits for someone, anyone to come up with the estimated $100 million it would cost to permanently dry-dock her.
Battleship Texas Band Aids: Leaks Plugged With Glue and Tinfoil
4 comments
Surely there are 100 Navy vets who would come up with $1 million each for this project – Let’s begin with Navy Hero George HW Bush and then there is John Kerry, can we name more……..?
$100M..this is an absurdly ridiculous number. Who/What source is this #?! I know we live in Texas and exaggeration is common, but this is assinine.
The source is the Wall St. Journal, which said: “Such a project, however, would cost $100 million, and the fundraising effort so far is some $70 million short.” Later on on their piece on the Battleships’ temporary repairs, they added this quote: ‘”It’s a very costly undertaking,” said Chris Johnson, a spokesman for the Naval Sea Systems Command, a division of the Navy charged with handling decommissioned ships.’ When even the Navy thinks it’s expensive, you know it’s REALLY expensive!
While I’m commenting, let me add that the Battleship Texas is one of the more incredible artifacts I’ve seen, and this is coming from a non-naval, liberal, art-writer point of view. It should be preserved. If you have never been out to the San Jacinto Battleground and toured it, go soon, before it sinks!