Battleship Texas set for $35 million repair

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Battleship Texas, the only remaining U.S. Navy ship that saw action in World War I and World War II, is heading to Galveston, Texas, for an extensive, $35 million repair.

The 108-year-old vessel was commissioned in 1914 and was considered one of the most powerful weapons in the world at the time. According to the ship's website, it helped reinforce the British blockade of Germany during World War I.

Battleship Texas also fought in several battles in World War II and even hosted a young reporter named Walter Cronkite. It was decommissioned in 1948 and became a museum that closed to the public in August 2019.

That year, Texas lawmakers approved the repairs, but with the condition that the ship finds a new home once repairs are complete. That new home has not been determined.

The ship has not moved from the San Jacinto Battleground off La Porte, Texas, since 1988, and getting it to Galveston is not an easy job.

The task of moving the hefty 27,000 ton battleship has been in the works for over three years, but "the risk is sinking," Tony Gregory, president of the Battleship Texas Foundation, told the Houston Chronicle.

"Everything we can plan for, we have planned for and considered," Gregory said. "But there is something you cannot plan for. There is an element we won't know until we are in the move. Does that worry me? Sure. You are not sure what is going to happen."