Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Battleship TEXAS — permanently anchored in Buffalo Bayou — is the last remaining Dreadnaught warship.

That’s a type of battleship that came about in the early nineteen hundreds.

Andy Smith is superintendent of the Battleship TEXAS State Historic site. The ship’s keel was laid in 1911; it was launched in 1912.

We’re looking at almost a hundred year old battleship that is still around, and it’s the only one like it left in the world.

And at nearly a hundred years old, it’s seen better days. November sixth Texans vote on sixteen constitutional amendments. Among them is proposition four — a bond issue that would provide funding for many state agencies for major capital repairs to existing facilities, including Battleship TEXAS.

There is 25-million or so — out of proposition four money — that is earmarked for the battleship. Of course our jobs as stewards of this great ship are to make it last for the next generation and generations after that. We just have not had the money recently to make the repairs like we could with that proposition four money.

The bond money would help build a dry berth. This would get the ship out of the Houston Ship Channel so it’s no longer exposed to corrosive seawater. Learn more about this unique national treasure when you visit passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show for today… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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Learn more about Proposition 4.

Proposition 4: Battleship Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download