USS Texas art print of the battleship USS
Texas at the landings of Utah and Omaha Beaches.
USS Texas was built by Newport News and laid down
on the 17th April 1911, launched 18th May 1912 and commissioned into the
navy on the 12th March 1914 , joining the 6th battle Squadron of the
Grand Fleet. serving with it until being transferred to serve with
the British grand Fleet from January 1918 until December 1918. USS Texas
was the first US battleship to carry Anti aircraft Armament. She was re-boilered
after the war using the boiler which had been built for the Battle
Cruisers ordered in 1916 which were never built. Became a training ship
in 1936. and was listed for disposal once their replacements had been
built. During World war two USS Texas supported the Normandy
landings. and while bombarding Cherbourg she was hit several times by 11
inch shells from German Coastal defences. On the 25th June went to
Plymouth for repairs. On the 15th August 1944 supported landings in
Southern France. and In November 1944 transferred tot he Pacific to
support the landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On the 27th October 1945 she
was decommissioned and towed to San Jacinto Basin. where she is preserved
as a state Musuem.
Displacement:
27,000 tons, Full load of 28,367 tons. Speed: 21
Knots. range 7060 nautical miles at 10 knots. Crew
1042. Armament: Ten 14-inch guns in pairs. twenty One 5 inch / 51
calibre guns/ Four 21-inch torpedo Tubes (submerged in the beam)
Gunline Omaha by
Randall Wilson
In support of the American
landings at Utah and Omaha beaches, the USS Texas slugs it out with
German heavy gun emplacements during the D-Day landings.
