"Come On Texas"
Every ship has a Battlecry or motto. For USS TEXAS (BB-35), it is "Come on, Texas".
On September 26, 1917, she departed the New York Navy Yard with a convoy of Destroyers for Long Island Sound. They were to meet with the Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9). This BatDiv contained the bulk of the US coal-fired dreadnought fleet and was going over seas to complement the Royal Navy. To avoid a minefield in the area, she had to turn near turn Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island.
At 4:25 am on the 28th, navigator Commander Frank Martin miscalculated when to turn caused the ship to turn too soon while passing a corner of the island. When the bridge crew saw the ship heading the shore, Captain Victor Blue ordered the engines in full reserve. However, it was too late and by the time Texas came to a stop, about half of the ship on the shore and flooded a couple other forward compartments. Attempts to free the mighty battleship with her engines failed. The crew noted the ship felt like a beast trying free itself. USS NEW YORK (BB-34) anchored nearby to keep station and help.
Later, after spending three days removing roughly 4,000 tons of weight. It should be noted, the ship was fully loaded with fuel, ammunition, and stores for her voyage and tour in Europe. Nearly anything and everything that was not bolted down was ether placed on another ship, moved aft or thrown over removed. Naval architects, Engineers and yard workers from the New York Navy Yard arrived to assess the damage and install air compressors to blow out the flooded compartments.
On October 2 at roughly 5 am, there was worry a storm was approaching. The engines were ran in full reverse and with the help of three tugboats began the final attempt to get her off the shore. After about an hour, her crew was nearly defeated when the crew from NEW YORK, having helped and watched the previous attempts, started chanting "Come on, Texas!" Almost as if it gave the ship the last bit of motivation, the 27,000 ton battleship finally started to slide back into deeper water.
"Since that day 'Come on, TEXAS' has been the motto of this ship, and has followed her throughout her naval career. Many times during action, in the present war, we have received messages from old hands aboard the TEXAS, now serving on other ships, wishing us luck and admonishing us with 'COME ON, TEXAS'".
History of U.S.S. TEXAS
Soon after, divers went to inspect the hull for damage. They found when she ran aground, she also slide partly on top of a boulder the size of a house. This boulder was reason for the flooding as it ripped a 150 foot long gash along her side. One crewman describe it as big enough to drive a horse and buggy through. Luckily, it did not damage the inner double bottom. However, the damage necessitated a repairs in a drydock. It took nearly 3 months to repair the damage.
The damaged hull while in a New York Navy Yard drydock.
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