Battleship TEXAS and more

Stern view of USS TEXAS (BB-35) at anchor.

Photographed sometime July 14, 1919 to January 1921.

USS TEXAS (BB-35) and USS NEW YORK (BB-34) steaming passed the Statue of Liberty as the sunsets.

Photographed sometime between January 31 and July 14, 1919.

USS IOWA (BB-61) being pulled out of the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Hunter's Point, California and towed to San Francisco Naval Shipyard. She was the last of sisters to be reactivated and had been there since March 29, 1949.

Photographed on July 14, 1951.

The lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleships for the US Navy, USS South Carolina (BB-26) was launched on 11 July 1908 and commissioned on 1 March 1910. The first dreadnought battleship built for the US Navy, she incorporated several revolutionary aspects, primarily the superfiring guns of her main battery.

USS South Carolina spent much of her career patrolling the east coast of the USA. During the Mexican Revolution, she took part in the United States occupation of Veracruz.

She was mostly used as a training ship after the US entered World War One, while also performing convoy escort duty. Post war she repatriated US Servicemen from Europe.

Along with her sister ship USS Michigan, she was scrapped under the terms of the Washington Treaty. Before being scrapped, the hulk was used to test the effectiveness of anti-torpedo bulges. South Carolina was decommissioned on 15 December 1922 and sold for scrap in 1924.

USS TEXAS (BB-35) having her belt armor bolted to the hull. The first armor was received and installed for Central Station on August 7, 1911.

Note: teak wood is placed in between the hull and armor to act as a buffer. 

Photographed sometime between May 18 and July 1912.

View of the forecastle, or fo'c'sle, of USS TEXAS (BB-35) at New York Navy Yard.

Photographed July 9 and August 27, 1929.

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The “mess” was actually the heart of a ship’s crew. While the officers stayed their wardroom or gunroom (depending on the size of the ship) where they ate, lived and socialised, the sailors did so in the mess, between the guns, because there it was actually situated on multi-deck ships, a frigate had the luxury that the men stayed in the lower deck without guns and thus had a little more space.

Messtable on the middle gun deck onboard of HMS Victory, by damian entwistle

If you think that this is how it is in modern times, that there is an extra room, you are wrong. The mess is actually just a table, without legs and tied to the deckhead by ropes. The men sat on their sea chests or an improvised bench that could be quickly stowed away. To eat, the men were divided into messes, hence the name. And each mess could consist of 4-8 people who ate together at one table. Between the meal times, they could also sit down with another person if they wanted to talk or something.

The sailor’s description of a chase & capture, by George Cruikshank (1792-1878) 

Sailors and Marines were separate and had their own messes. If someone wanted to change their mess because there was a problem between them, this was possible, it just had to be communicated to the first lieutenant and allowed by him, as he made the plans and sorted the men into their units. Each mess also kept and respected their plates etc. with many keeping their private things in their boxes and the Navy issued crockery being stored elsewhere. If something was lost with the number of the person who had it, he had to pay for it, that means he had go to the purser and buy a new one. Pewter dishes were known, as with the officers, but because they could get dented quite quickly, the Sailors had wooden dishes. And the plates were square, hence the name square meal.

Saturday Night At Sea, by George Cruikshank (1792-1878) 

Every day a man was chosen from the mess (in order) to go to the Purser Mates (Jack of the Dust) in the morning to collect the food in a bag with the mess number on it. This was taken to the cook and he threw it all together to make the meal of the day.

Seamen’s mess (x)

A Vought O2U-1 Corsair floatplane being lifted onboard USS TEXAS (BB-35).

Photographed sometime between January and June 1930.

RMS Empress of Japan passing through First Narrows, Vancouver June 1893

RMS Empress of Japan (also known as the "Queen of the Pacific") , was an ocean liner built in 1890–1891 by Naval Construction & Armaments Co, Barrow-in-Furness, England for Canadian Pacific Steamships .

Crewmen of USS TEXAS (BB-35) returning from shore leave.

Photographed sometime between January 1927 and June 1928.

The Marine Detachment assigned to USS TEXAS (BB-35).

Photographed on June 24, 1944.

USS TEXAS (BB-35) in one of the locks of the Panama Canal. This was her 14th canal crossing.

Photographed on June 21, 1937.

USS TEXAS (BB-35) and USS ORION (AC-11) docked at a wharf, possibly the Norfolk Navy Yard.

Photographed sometime between March 14, 1924 and June 20, 1925.

USS TEXAS (BB-35) during her deactivation at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia.

Photographed sometime between February 13 and June 18, 1946.