The TEXAS Clipper (Lexington Avenue Express Book 35)

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Provide feedback about this page. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping. Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. When the United States formally entered World War II in , Texas escorted war convoys across the Atlantic and later shelled Axis -held beaches for the North African campaign and the Normandy Landings before being transferred to the Pacific Theater late in to provide naval gunfire support during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Texas was decommissioned in , having earned a total of five battle stars for service in World War II, and is now a museum ship near Houston , Texas.

In addition to her combat service, Texas also served as a technological testbed during her career, and in this capacity became the first US battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first US ship to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers analog forerunners of today's computers , the first US battleship to launch an aircraft, [9] from a platform on Turret 2, [10] and was one of the first to receive the CXAM-1 version of CXAM production radar in the US Navy, [A 1]. Among the world's remaining battleships, Texas is notable for being the first US battleship to become a permanent museum ship, [A 2] [9] and the first battleship declared to be a US National Historic Landmark.

Mikasa , a pre-dreadnought battleship ordered in by the Imperial Japanese Navy is older than Texas. She is also noteworthy for being one of only seven remaining ships and the only remaining capital ship to have served in both World Wars. The torpedo rooms held 12 torpedoes total, plus 12 naval defense mines. Entering New York Navy Yard on the next day, she spent the next three weeks there undergoing the installation of fire-control equipment.

During her stay in New York, President Woodrow Wilson ordered a number of ships of the Atlantic Fleet to Mexican waters in response to tension created when a detail of Mexican federal troops detained an American gunboat crew at Tampico. The problem was quickly resolved locally, but Rear Admiral Henry T.

Mayo sought further redress by demanding an official disavowal of the act by the Huerta regime and a gun salute to the American flag. President Wilson saw in the incident an opportunity to put pressure on a government he felt was undemocratic. On 20 April, Wilson placed the matter before the United States Congress and sent orders to Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher , commanding the naval force off the Mexican coast, instructing him to land a force at Veracruz and to seize the customs house there in retaliation for what is now known as the " Tampico Incident ". That action was carried out on 21—22 April.

Due to the intensity of the situation, Texas put to sea on 13 May and headed directly to operational duty without benefit of the usual shakedown cruise and post-shakedown repair period. She remained in Mexican waters for just over two months, supporting the American forces ashore. The battleship remained there until 6 September, when she returned to sea, joined the Atlantic Fleet, and settled into a schedule of normal fleet operations.

In October, she returned to the Mexican coast. Later that month, Texas became station ship at Tuxpan , a duty that lasted until 4 November, when she steamed for Galveston, Texas. Texas sailed for Tampico on 14 November and thereafter to Veracruz, where she remained for a month. The battleship entered New York Navy Yard on 28 December and remained there undergoing repairs until 16 February Upon her return to active duty with the fleet, Texas resumed a schedule alternating between training operations along the New England coast and off the Virginia Capes and winter fleet tactical and gunnery drills in the West Indies.

That routine lasted just over two years until the February-to-March crisis over unrestricted submarine warfare catapulted the US into World War I in April The 6 April declaration of war found Texas riding at anchor in the mouth of the York River with the other Atlantic Fleet battleships. She remained in the Virginia Capes — Hampton Roads vicinity until mid-August, conducting exercises and training Naval Armed Guard gun crews for service onboard merchant ships. On 19 April, the crew of Mongolia sighted a surfaced German U-boat and the gun crew trained aboard Texas opened fire on the U-boat, averting an attack on Mongolia and firing the first American shots of World War I.

She completed repairs on 26 September and got underway for Port Jefferson that same day. Captain Victor Blue and his navigator , confused about shore lights and more concerned about the minefield at the opening of Long Island Sound , made the turn at the wrong time and ran the ship aground on the island from the bow all the way aft beyond midships.

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On 30 September, tugs came to her assistance, and she finally backed clear. Hull damage dictated a return to the yard, and extensive repairs precluded her departure with Battleship Division 9 BatDiv 9 for the British Isles in November. The Navy Department held his navigator entirely responsible for the accident. By December, she had completed repairs and moved south to conduct military simulations out of the York River.

Mid-January found the battleship back at New York preparing for the voyage across the Atlantic, including the removal of two more 5-inch guns, reducing the total number aboard to Texas ' s service with the Grand Fleet consisted entirely of convoy missions and occasional forays to reinforce the British squadron on blockade duty in the North Sea whenever German heavy units threatened. Texas began her mission five days after her arrival at Scapa Flow, when she sortied with the entire fleet to reinforce the 4th Battle Squadron , then on duty in the North Sea.

She returned to Scapa Flow the next day and remained until 8 March, when she put to sea on a convoy escort mission from which she returned on 13 March. Texas and her division mates entered the Firth of Forth on 12 April, but got underway again on the 17th to escort a convoy. The American battleships returned to base on 20 April. Forward units caught sight of the retiring Germans on 25 April, but at such an extreme range, bringing the German fleet into engagement with the Grand Fleet was not possible. The Germans returned to their base that day, and the Grand Fleet, including Texas , did likewise on the next.

Texas and her division mates passed a relatively inactive May in the Firth of Forth. On 9 June, she got underway with the other warships of the 6th Battle Squadron and headed back to the anchorage at Scapa Flow, arriving there the following day. From 30 June to 2 July, Texas and her colleagues acted as escort for American minelayers adding to the North Sea mine barrage. After a two-day return to Scapa Flow, Texas put to sea with the Grand Fleet to conduct two days of tactical exercises and war games.

At the conclusion of those drills on 8 July, the fleet entered the Firth of Forth. With the German Fleet increasingly tied to its bases in the estuaries of the Jade and the Ems rivers, the American and British ships settled into a routine schedule of operations with little-to-no hint of combat operations. That state of affairs lasted until the Armistice ended hostilities on 11 November Afterward, the American contingent moved to Portland Harbour , England, arriving there on 4 December. The rendezvous took place around Following overhaul, Texas resumed duty with the Atlantic Fleet early in McDonnell flew a British-built Sopwith Camel off the warship.

Twining , successfully employed naval aircraft to spot the fall of shells during a main battery exercise. Texas left the Pacific on 16 January [37] and returned to the east coast for overhaul and to participate in a training cruise to European waters with Naval Academy Midshipmen embarked. On 31 July , [38] she entered Norfolk Navy Yard for a major modernization overhaul. Also, her AA armament was increased to eight 3-inch guns, and the torpedo tubes were removed.

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Six of the 5-inch guns were relocated to new main deck casemates at this time. Following completion of her overhaul, Texas was designated the flagship of the United States Fleet and resumed duty along the eastern seaboard. She kept at that task until late , when she did a brief tour of duty in the Pacific from late September-early December.

She returned to New York early in for her annual overhaul and had completed it by March when she began another brief tour of duty in the Pacific. She returned to the Atlantic in June and resumed normal duty with the Scouting Fleet. In April , she took time from her operating schedule to escort Leviathan into New York when that ship carried the returning US delegation to the London Naval Conference.

In the summer of , she once more was reassigned to the east coast, as the flagship of the Training Detachment, United States Fleet. Late in or early in , the warship became flagship of the newly organized Atlantic Squadron , built around BatDiv 5. Through both organizational assignments, her labors were directed primarily to training missions, Midshipman cruises, Naval Reserve drills, and training members of the Fleet Marine Force.

Also in , eight 1. Soon after war broke out in Europe in September , Texas began operating on the Neutrality Patrol , an American attempt to keep the war out of the western hemisphere. Later, as the United States moved toward more active support of the Allied cause, the warship began convoying ships carrying Lend-Lease materiel to the United Kingdom.

On 1 February, Admiral Ernest J. On Sunday, 7 December , the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor , the battleship was at Casco Bay, Maine , undergoing a rest and relaxation period following three months of watch duty at Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland.

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After 10 days at Casco Bay, she returned to Argentia and remained there until late January , when she got underway to escort a convoy to England. After delivering her charges, the battleship patrolled waters near Iceland until March when she returned home. On one occasion, she escorted Guadalcanal -bound Marines as far as Panama ; on another, the warship screened service troops to Freetown , Sierra Leone , on the west coast of Africa.

More frequently, she made voyages to and from the United Kingdom escorting both cargo- and troop-carrying ships. On 23 October , Texas embarked upon her first major combat operation when she sortied with Task Group The objective assigned to this group was Port Lyautey in French Morocco. The warships arrived off the assault beaches near the village of Mehedia early in the morning of 8 November and began preparations for the invasion. When the troops went ashore, Texas did not go into action immediately to support them. At that point in the war, the doctrine of amphibious warfare was still embryonic.

Many Army officers did not recognize the value of prelanding bombardments. Instead, the Army insisted upon attempting a landing by surprise. Texas entered the battle early in the afternoon when the Army requested her to fire upon a Vichy French Army ammunition dump near Port Lyautey.

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During her short stay, some of her crewmen went ashore to assist in salvaging some of the ships that had been sunk in the harbor. The young news reporter Walter Cronkite was on board Texas starting in Norfolk, Virginia , through her service off the coast of North Africa, and thence back to the US. He was granted permission to be flown the rest of the distance to Norfolk so that he could outpace a rival correspondent on Massachusetts to return to the US and to issue the first uncensored news reports to published about Operation Torch.

Throughout , Texas carried out the familiar role of convoy escort. With New York as her home port, she made numerous transatlantic voyages to such places as Casablanca and Gibraltar , as well as frequent visits to ports in the British Isles. That routine continued into but ended on 22 April of that year when, at the European end of one such mission, she remained at the Clyde estuary in Scotland and began training for the invasion of Normandy.

The firing was done in conjunction with Royal Air Force airplanes as spotters. There, final preparations were made, including the removal of the airplane catapult and the ship's OS2U Kingfisher observation planes. The three pilots who flew Texas ' s Kingfishers during this period were temporarily transferred to a newly formed squadron, VOS-7 , that was composed of the pilots who flew observation and scouting planes from the cruisers Augusta , Quincy , and Tuscaloosa and the battleships Arkansas , Nevada , and Texas.

VOS-7 received training in defensive fighter tactics, aerobatics, navigation, formation flying and spotting procedures in Royal Air Force Spitfires ; they flew spotting missions in the Spitfires because of the threat from German fighters. During the final preparations, General Eisenhower came aboard on 19 May to speak to the crew. On 31 May, the ship was sealed and a briefing given to the crew about the upcoming invasion. In sight, on a parallel course was a group of British ships, including the battleships Warspite and Ramillies.

Later that evening, off Lundy Island, the taskforce reversed course and headed for and joined the invasion fleet gathering at Area Z. Meanwhile, her secondary battery went to work on another target on the western end of "Omaha" beach, a ravine laced with strong points to defend an exit road. Later, under control of airborne spotters, she moved her major-caliber fire inland to interdict enemy reinforcement activities and to destroy batteries and other strong points farther inland.

By noon, the assault on Omaha Beach was in danger of collapsing due to stronger than anticipated German resistance and the inability of the Allies to get needed armor and artillery units on the beach. In an effort to help the infantry fighting to take Omaha, some of the destroyers providing gunfire support closed near the shoreline, almost grounding themselves to fire on the Germans. Texas also closed to the shoreline; at Among other things, she fired upon snipers and machine gun nests hidden in a defile just off the beach. At the conclusion of that mission, the battleship attacked an enemy anti-aircraft battery located west of Vierville.

On 7 June, the battleship received word that the Ranger battalion at Pointe Du Hoc was still isolated from the rest of the invasion force with low ammunition and mounting casualties; in response, Texas obtained and filled two LCVPs [51] with provisions and ammunition for the Rangers.

Along with the Rangers, a deceased Coast Guard sailor and twenty-seven prisoners twenty Germans, four Italians, and three French were brought to the ship.

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The prisoners were fed, segregated, and not formally interrogated aboard Texas , due to the ship bombarding targets or standing by to bombard, before being loaded aboard an LST for transfer to England. That evening, she bombarded a German mortar battery that had been shelling the beach. Not long after midnight, German planes attacked the ships offshore, and one of them swooped in low on Texas ' s starboard quarter.

Her anti-aircraft batteries opened up immediately but failed to hit the intruder. After that, she retired to Plymouth to rearm, returning to the French coast on 11 June.

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From then until 15 June, she supported the army in its advance inland. By 15 June, the troops had advanced to the edge of Texas ' s gun range; her last fire support mission was so far inland that to get the needed range, the starboard torpedo blister was flooded with water to provide a list of two degrees which gave the guns enough elevation to complete the fire mission. With combat operations beyond the range of her guns on 16 June, Texas left Normandy for England on 18 June. On the morning of 25 June Texas , in company with Arkansas , Nevada , four cruisers and eleven destroyers, closed in on the vital port of Cherbourg to suppress the fortifications and batteries surrounding the town while the US Army's VII Corps attacked the city from the rear.

While en route to Cherbourg, the bombardment plan was changed and Task Group The battleship continued her firing runs in spite of shell geysers blossoming about her and difficulty spotting the targets because of smoke; however, the enemy gunners were just as stubborn and skilled. Of the eleven total casualties from the German shell hit, only one man succumbed to his wounds—the helmsman on duty, Christen Christensen. The warship herself continued to deliver her inch shells in two-gun salvos and, in spite of damage and casualties, scored a direct hit that penetrated one of the heavily reinforced gun emplacements to destroy the gun inside at Clark, but failed to explode.

The unexploded shell was later disarmed by a Navy bomb disposal officer in Portsmouth and is currently displayed aboard the ship. Throughout the three-hour duel, the Germans straddled and near-missed Texas over sixty-five times, but she continued her mission firing inch shells at Battery Hamburg until ordered to retire at After Texas underwent repairs at Plymouth from damage sustained at Cherbourg, she drilled in preparation for the invasion of southern France. On 16 July, she departed Belfast Lough and headed for the Mediterranean.

She arrived off Saint-Tropez during the night of 14 August and was joined early the next morning by battleship Nevada and cruiser Philadelphia [63] At Due to very poor visibility that morning, Texas relied on her SG radar equipment to determine her position and track for both navigation and gunnery purposes.

No landmarks were visible during the firing and for the greater part of the forenoon. The heavy opposition that was expected never materialized, so the landing forces moved inland rapidly.

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As fire support from Texas ' s guns was no longer required, she departed the southern coast of France on the early morning of 17 August. At New York, Texas underwent a day repair period during which the barrels on her main battery were replaced. After a brief refresher cruise, she departed Maine in November and set a course, via the Panama Canal, for the Pacific.

She made a stop at Long Beach, California , and then continued on to Oahu. She spent Christmas at Pearl Harbor and then conducted maneuvers in the Hawaiian Islands for about a month at the end of which she steamed to Ulithi Atoll. She departed Ulithi on 10 February , stopped in the Mariana Islands for two days of invasion rehearsals, and then she set a course for Iwo Jima. She arrived off Iwo Jima on 16 February, three days before the amphibious landings began. She spent just three days pounding the Japanese defenses on Iwo Jima in preparation for the landing of three Marine Corps Divisions.

Though the island of Iwo Jima was not declared to be captured until 16 March, Texas departed from the Volcano Islands on 7 March, [67] and returned to Ulithi Atoll to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa Operation Iceberg. She departed from Ulithi with Task Force 54, the gunfire support unit, on 21 March, and arrived in the Ryukyu Islands on the 26th. Texas moved in close to Okinawa and began her prelanding bombardment that same day.

For the next six days, she fired multiple salvos from her main guns to prepare the way for several Army and Marine divisions to make their amphibious landings on 1 April. Each evening, Texas retired from her bombardment position close to Okinawa, but returned the next morning to resume her bombardments.