HISTORY

Texas among the so-called pre-dreadnoughts.

Other armaments were six six-inch (152mm)

guns, twelve six-pound (57mm) guns and four

single-pound (37mm) guns. The ship also carried two torpedo tubes. The longitudinal armor

plate was 12 inches (305 mm) thick, with a deck

thickness of 1 to 3 inches, as well as turret protection. The command tower was protected by

nine-inch (229mm) armor. The USS Texas, one

of the first two armored battleships designed

directly by the US Navy, after modifications and

partial modernization in 1896, was assigned to

the Atlantic Fleet, in which it participated in the

main battle of the Spanish-American War in

July 1898, in which US ships outclassed Admiral Cervera‘s Spanish fleet. After that, the USS

Texas was decommissioned several times and

reassigned to service, so that on February 15,

1911, as hopelessly obsolete, it was renamed

the USS San Marcos and on March 21/22, 1911,

she was sunk near Tangier Island by fire from

the slightly more modern battleship New Hampshire (BB-25). For a long time, this became

a training target for the new dreadnoughts

USS San Marcos prior to being fired upon by USS New Hampshire (BB-25) in ordnance of the growing US Navy. The name Texas was

tests in Chesapeake Bay, March 1911. Note that the old battleship has had canvas screens transferred to the nascent modern dreadnought,

erected to increase her target area (photo: Naval History and Heritage Command).

which entered service under the designation

BB-35 on March 12, 1914. Her sister ship was the

USS New York (BB-34). During their long and

successful service career, both ships survived

the First and Second World Wars. After that, the

USS New York was sunk as a training target in

1948, while the USS Texas is still moored in Galveston, Texas. In 1912, the typical truss mast of

American battleships, also seen on the Arizona before its modernization in the early 1930s

was experimentally erected on the wreck of the

San Marcos to test its resistance to twelve-inch

(305 mm) grenades fired from the monitor USS

Tallahassee. San Marcos and other sunken old

armored ships were used for training throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1940, the cargo

ship Lexington collided with an unlit wreck.

Lexington sank after the collision, fortunately

without losing any of the crew. The owner and

the United States government then tried unsuccessfully to sue for damages. At present, the

hard-to-identify parts of the USS San Marcos

wreck are still at the bottom of Tangier Sound

and are occasional targets for scuba divers.

USS New Hampshire firing her main gun batteries at the target represented by the ship USS

San Marcos in Chesapeake Bay, March 1911 (photo: Naval History and Heritage Command).

USS San Marcos after being used for target practice in Chesapeake Bay, by USS New Hampshire,

March 1911. Note the numerous shell holes in the

ship, which has settled on the bottom as a result of her damage. USS Mohawk (YT-17) is in the

foreground (photo: Naval History and Heritage

Command).

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INFO Eduard

March 2022