Last year, I found out that there are guided tours of a number of the non-public spaces on the Battleship Texas (BB-35), which is moored at San Jacinto State Park in La Porte. This tour is called the Hard Hat Tour, because you have to wear a furnished hard hat while taking it, and is 3.5-4 hours long. It visits a number of the machinery spaces, the interior of turret #1, and the pilot house. A full list of the spaces visited and a description of the tour is available at:
The reason this is relevant to HALS members is because the Texas is the last US Navy battleship built with reciprocating steam engines, instead of steam turbines. It used huge 4-cylinder triple-expansion engines for propulsion, and of course, steam was the power source for everything on board. It ran the pu! mps, steering, provided electrical power and ran the desalinators for drinking water.
The next available Hard Hat tour is a partially-filled private tour on May 6, 2006 at 8:30 AM. The cost for the tour is a minimum contribution of $30.00 per person. The maximum number of people they will take in one group is 24. The tour that is already set up has 11 people signed up. The lady that I spoke to at TP&W said that if we exceed that number of interested people, we will be able to arrange for a private tour of only HALS members after lunch, at 1:00.
So, look at the web page above (by all means, look at the entire site, it is very good) and let me know as soon as possible if you are interested. I will also present this information at tomorrow night's business meeting. Please pay particular intention to the description of the tour -- it requires a lot of going up and down stairs and ladders,! and you will get dirty. If you're claustrophobic, it might not be a good idea, as the lower decks can have very confined areas and low overheads.
But, if you're interested in seeing the last remaining steam dreadnought in the world, and what makes it tick, it should be fascinating.
I'll coordinate the visit with the TP&W folks, so let me know as soon as possible.
Tom Herbert