All of us know the ship anchored at the San Jacinto Battleground (and headed for drydock soon,) but did you know there was Battleship Texas that came before it?
The original Battleship Texas was launched in 1892, twenty years before the current ship was built.
She was 309 feet long with twelve inches of armor at the waterline. Crewed by 360 men and 30 officers, she was armed with a pair of 12 inch main guns and a dozen six inch guns. Those main guns could hurl an 870 pound shell seven miles.
After her sister ship, the Maine, was sunk in Havana harbor, she was sent to Cuba, where she supported the Marine landings at Guantanamo Bay, which has been in American hands ever since.
Six weeks later, on July 3, 1898, the Texas and the rest of the Flying Squadron, destroyed the Spanish fleet off Santiago de Cuba.
The Battleship Texas was the first to enter the fray, firing on four of the Spanish vessels at once.
That brings us to this print. It is one of a series of six chromolithographs produced in 1898 to show the American public the battleships of its victorious navy.
Have a closer look.
