Just a couple more sketches from the U.S.S. Texas battleship . . .
The bell from the original Battleship Texas is below decks. The second Texas still retains her bell hanging in place above decks. The first Texas was commissioned in 1895; she was renamed San Marcos in 1911 which allowed this second ship to be named Texas.
The first U.S.S. Texas had a reputation of being a jinxed ship after several early mishaps. She served in the Spanish-American War and later became a station ship in Charleston, South Carolina. After being renamed, she became a target ship for gunnery practice.
The bridge sketches were from a badly backlit photo Bill took — sunlight was pouring through those portholes and the brightness even hurt my eyes just looking at the photograph! So details are not absolutely correct, but I wanted to draw the wheel and show what tiny visibility there was looking through the portholes that ran a half-circle around this room. Bill says this tiny space would have been a tight squeeze for the many officers present. There was a table to the left where maps were spread out to study.
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