Hey guys, This part of the article jump out at me: out for me: The $17.5 million repair contract for the Battleship TEXAS will accomplish about half of the structural repair needs of the battleship and is a first step in meeting the long-term goal of placing the USS TEXAS in a dry berth, according to Scott Stover, TPWD’s Infrastructure Division deputy director. This is the video for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vws077hSis . Nikki
About time they started doing something. I only wish somebody would front the cash to fix my local piece of history, the Olympia. She's going to become one with the bottom of Philadelphia Harbor one day at this rate.
The Olympia's hull is 110 years of rusted patchwork. It would never survive transport. I know she is up for somebody else to take steward over her...but she would need major repairs here in the Philadelphia area before she could ever be relocated.
The only way the Olympia would make it to CA, would be to cut it up and load the pieces onto railcars, and re-assemble them in CA... probably cheaper than the hull work needed to make the voyage safely..
Our Big Guns Battle Group made a trip out to tour the Olympia. We were very disappointed with her condition. I did make of point of standing on the battle bridge and announcing “You may fire when ready Gridley.” The next summer I was in Manila Bay. The tour guide talked about how the Americans came to free them from the Spanish oppression. I still had the photos of the Olympia in my camera and showed them to the tour guide.
No question she would fit, but the cost, coupled with the severe condition of the ship makes me think they'd never try it. I just have this image of them lifting it out of the water and it turning into a steel pancake.
Ok, this may sound silly, but...construct a tank on the deck of the heavy lift ship...make it the same shape as Olympia's hull, but say, 6 ft wider.. Make it in two halves, bow and stern. Stern half to be fitted with external flotation tanks. Bow half fixed to deck. Submerge heavy lift with bow section of tank on deck. Float Olympia in. Float rear section of tank into place and attatch to bow section. Raise heavy lift ship, with tank and Olympia, floating.
I doubt very much they can get a heavy lift ship up to where the Olympia is without a massive dredging project, given that I'm pretty sure they were talking about needing to dredge simply to be able to tow her out.
Well, given that she is actually still floating, and her hull condition above the waterline is ok, perhaps she could be fitted with an external "exoskeleton" to carry her with less risk of structural failure....she may need to lightened to reduce stresses and have some of her lower compartments temporarily filled with structural foam, till her frames could be renewed. All this will cost $$$$$ though...and in these times, its politically easier to place blame for her loss than actually rescue her.
I do believe that the main problem is the silt in the channel. At high tide she is only inches above the bottom, if that much. There is a photo out there of her sitting on the bottom at low tide. you can see the water pouring out of the hull from the rusted hole in her hull. It is not a pretty site. I was told that the hull is rusted so thin in spots that you could poke your finget through it! I was also told that they can not dredge for fear of ripping the bottom off of the ship in the process of clearing out the silt!