USS Texas' battle against rust may prove too costly

As tourists blithely strolled the decks of the USS Texas on Tuesday, workers struggled below decks - without air conditioning - to control a leak that was pouring nearly 1,000 gallons of seawater into the historic battleship every minute.

As the leak entered its fourth day, ship manager Andy Smith expressed optimism that Tuesday's effort would complete siphoning a film of oily water from the ship's bilge. By midday, more than 6,500 gallons of the oily soup, the result of seawater flooding internal oil tanks, had been removed. Smith said the leak may be repaired Wednesday.

Advocates for preservation of the vessel, which served in both world wars and marked its 100th anniversary last month, say the latest leak underscores the severity of salt water-inflicted damage the ship has sustained. In 2007, voters approved a $25 million bond issue to address the ship's problems. State officials, however, have determined that sum will be insufficient to repair the ship and display it in a dry berth as planned.

Complicating the picture is a state Legislative Budget Board decision barring the money's use for any purpose other than dry-berthing. Battleship Texas project manager Neil Thomas said partners in the project, including the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Battleship Texas Foundation and the Naval Sea Systems Command, are deliberating their next move.

Foundation executive director Bruce Bramlett said he believes the ship is in such perilous condition that it cannot safely be moved or removed from the water without on-site repairs. Over the long term, he said, leaving the vessel in the water is a "death sentence."

"You have to repair it and dry berth it or you're just kicking the can down the road. We want to see the Texas preserved for generations to come," he said. Bramlett's group has donated $3 million to the battleship project.

$23 million remains

Thomas, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department employee, said that approximately $23 million remains from the bond issue. Repairing the ship and placing it in an on-land display would cost approximately $50 million. Without Legislative Budget Board approval of alternate repair plans, he said, the use of bond issue money is limited to a dry berthing project.

In 1988, the badly rusted ship was towed to a Galveston facility for repair. It was returned to its mooring at the San Jacinto Battlefield Historic Site two years later.

In the most recent leak, which Smith described as the worst in five years, workers noticed the Texas listing and sitting low in the water during a routine Saturday morning inspection. Upon investigating, workers found water pouring into the ship's bilge beneath the engine room.

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USS Texas' battle against rust may prove too costly