Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "USS Texas - 104 years old and still going" video.

I visited the Texas last year. She is not being neglected. A large crew of volunteers supplemented by paid contractors when needed was hard at work when I was there sanding and painting rusted surfaces and reinforcing the interior of the hull in preparation for dry berthing. The money for this project is already in place, raised by the Battleship TEXAS Foundation and Texas state bonds. The problem had been required environmental impact reports that have sucked up a lot of money and delayed the project by over two years. The results of the reports were supposed to be finished by 2015. As any of you who have ever worked with environmental engineering consultants know, they never finish on time. The report was finally submitted, all 600 plus pages worth, and another year has been consumed addressing the results of the report. Of course, another round of responses to the responses was needed, and the vast majority of issues have been mitigated. Another impact to the project schedule has been hurricanes and tropical storms. The last two years in the Gulf of Mexico has been a time of intense hurricane and tropical storm activity affecting Houston and, as a result, the Texas. The storms caused the workers on the Texas to be evacuated, and flooding in the Houston area delayed any work on the ship and the dry berth project by months. It was hoped that the project could be completed y 2018, but now it looks more likely that it will be before hurricane season in 2020...assuming the Gulf behaves itself in 2019. All the preliminary engineering and construction planning is done for the dry berth and the sitework was started. We'll see what happens going forward. The bottom line is the ship is not just rotting away at anchor now and there's hope for the future.
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@RedXlV It's not being done by the state. All the work is being done by the Foundation. The state bonds have already been sold for the major part of the dry berthing expense and the Foundation has raised another million dollars. I rather doubt the aggressive project schedule will be met but, if the weather cooperates, I think we'll see the Mighty T in her new home by 2021.
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@russg1801 Yes, when I was there, a lot of work was being done below decks to stabilize the structure and generally paint and clean things up so visitors can see the lower three decks. There was also a lot of cosmetic restoration being done to the engines.
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@QuadinarosLS I was relaying what I was told by several volunteers and a member of the Foundation on the day of my visit plus what I've read from the Foundation and other articles I've read online. It seems there has been a fair amount of bickering between all the parties involved. I have no idea who is right so I will let your post stand without comment.
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@AdamMGTF Thanks very much for that offer, Adam. At 73 and living on social security and whatever the stock market deigns to give me this month, my travel budget is sadly shrunken from what it used to be. At age 73, I also don't get around as well as I used to. Within those limitations, however, the Mother Country is at the top of my list. This colonial enjoys a proper cuppa Twinings, although I'm one of those heretics that has tea with my milk. A rousing RN vs USN discussion would make for an enjoyable weekend. I'll save this post and contact you as my schedule gets firmed up. One of the things that makes Drach's channel so enjoyable is the chance to meet people like yourself.
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lovely new intro. Looks like the "5 minutes more or less" is going to end up being a lot more, something that's fine by me.
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@Drachinifel Indeed, it couldn't, and I'm content for you to take all the time you need to really cover a subject. I doubt many subscribers think "Oh, no, 30 minutes? That's way too long for me."
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@AdamMGTF Ah, a good kip. I'd like that too if my cat would stop biting my toes and waking me up. :-) Things being "a long way away" mean different things to a Brit than a Yank. We think of a long way as maybe a couple days drive or a four hour flight. We don't even have the option of a train trip to many places and, if we do. Amtrak manages it by the most roundabout way imaginable. I'm a railfan or, as you might say, a train spotter, so some train travel would be part of the experience for me. There are so many places I want to see, and Portsmouth is number one. Bovington and the IWM are tied for second. As you say, the number of places of historic interest is almost overwhelming. Id love to see some of the historic homes and castles as well. I live in a home on the National Register of Historic Homes, and my house is noteworthy for its age. I was built in 1895. Just as we have a different idea about distance, we also have a different idea about age. :-) It sounds like you have a lot of interests for your age, and at least most it has nothing to with playing GTA 5! I'm sorry to hear about your being unwell as a child, but it sounds like the upside to it was your love of history and reading. Those are two things that will carry you a long way as an adult. Sounds like we could have a wonderful time traipsing about the countryside. I was thinking about how Drach's channel has brought together a number of like minded people. I'd sure like to live closer to a lot of the viewers of the channel so I could attend some of the meet-ups. that may be an idea when I'm over there. Thanks again for your extremely kind offer. I'm also on FB under the nom de plume of Jorge Wilson, just to maintain my man of mystery subterfuge. :-)
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Q&A Given the success to the German radio guided bombs during the Sicily campaign, why weren't they used during the D-Day invasion?
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@gustavbonow5416 Thanks. Do you have a link about the supply of Fritz-X bombs? I've read that there plenty of Fritz-X and Type 239 bombs available, but the British Type 650 jammer was so successful that no attacks were launched since the bombs were not able to be guided toward targets. Germany was working on a new guidance method to defeat the Allied jamming, moving the radio frequency from the 50 MHz range to the 150 MHz range. They had also identified the allied jammers disrupted communications on the receiver's IF frequency so they went to triple conversion receivers to defeat jamming on the IF frequency. Unfortunately for Germany, the new guided bombs weren't available until the end of 1944, and there was no time to fit aircraft with the new electronic equipment before the end of the war. Allied air superiority over the beaches would have certainly made guided bomb missions dangerous but, if it wasn't for the jamming, some would have gotten through. The Allies were lucky once again that German technology was just too late to have any effect on the war's outcome.
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