Battleship Texas may be relocated
Proponents say a move to Galveston would boost ticket sales, paying for ship’s upkeep
The aging Battleship Texas will have a new caretaker and be temporarily moved to Alabama for much-needed repairs under a bill that could be headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
But the bill doesn’t address a crucial question: After repairs are completed, will the battleship be returned to the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site near La Porte, its home for more than 70 years?
The way state Rep. John Cyrier see it, a yet-to-be determined site at Galveston would draw more tourists to the battleship, and those ticket sales would boost revenue and pay for the ship’s future maintenance costs.
“I think everybody that looks at this, if they look at the numbers and look at the reasoning on bringing it to Galveston, I think they’ll realize that’s the best option to save this battleship,” said Cyrier, R-Lockhart, who is one of the House sponsors of Senate Bill 1511 written by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville.
The possible relocation of a major Texas landmark was opposed by state representatives Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and Mary Ann Perez, D-Houston, who questioned the logic of moving the ship to Galveston. The debate about the bill was first reported by the Austin American-Statesman.
The battleship is located in Perez’s legislative district and near Cain’s district .
“I’ve lived by Galveston all the days of my life,” Perez told Cyrier before the Texas House voted on the bill on May 16. Tourists only flock to Galveston in the summer, she said. What about the rest of the year?
Cain said moving Battleship Texas to Galveston hadn’t been discussed at all during committee hearings on the bill. If people had known that was a possibility, he said, there would have been an outcry.
Cain added an amendment to the bill that stated the ship must be returned to its current home, but a legislative conference committee later removed the measure.
Both critics of the bill said they appreciated its intent.
Originally called the USS Texas, the battleship is more than 100 years old and saw action in both world wars. Its rusting hull is paper-thin in some places, Cyrier said, and water has to be continually pumped out of the leaking ship.
If the bill becomes law, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department would enter into a 99-year agreement with a nonprofit organization that would take over day-today operations of the ship and pay for its maintenance.
The bill doesn’t specify the nonprofit, but Cyrier said it would be Battleship Texas Foundation, which supports the measure.
“This is an ideal public-private partnership,” said Tony Gregory, the foundation’s chairman, who testified in support of the bill at a House committee hearing.
“For awhile now, we’ve been searching for a better answer to the problems of the ship,” Gregory said.
It would cost $35 million to transport and repair Battleship Texas. Taxpayer funding for the project has been set aside in a separate
appropriations bill.
An engineering study by Valkor Energy Services shows it’s possible to safely float Battleship Texas out of its slip along the Houston Ship Channel and transport it to a dry dock in Alabama, Gregory said.
The refurbished warship would be returned to Texas — but exactly where that will be is unclear.
“I would really hate to see it moved,” said La Porte’s mayor, Louis Rigby, who grew up in the area and has been visiting Battleship Texas since he was a boy. “It’s a part of Texas history just as much as the Alamo is.”
Cyrier said he doesn’t have a specific site in mind in Galveston, and it’s also unclear who would make the ultimate decision about where the ship will go.
“I don’t know that,” Cyrier said. “That’s a good question.”
But if Abbott signs the bill, Cyrier said it will be the “first big step” to save an important piece of history.
“This was a big milestone,” he said.