The battleship USS Texas has returned to public attention after an extensive restoration, carrying with it a legend that sounds almost implausible: on D-Day, the warship deliberately flooded part of its own hull to angle its guns higher and hit German positions inland. As the ship prepares for a new life in Galveston, that calculated act of self-sabotage has become the defining story visitors want to hear.
What is coming back to the Texas Gulf Coast is not only a museum ship but a combat veteran that pushed its own design limits in order to support troops fighting for a foothold in Normandy.
From aging relic to $75 million overhaul
The Battleship USS Texas (BB-35) spent decades moored near the San Jacinto Monument as a state historic site, but by the early 2020s its hull corrosion threatened its survival. Preservation leaders opted for a full drydock repair rather than accept a slow decline.
That decision produced a reported $75 million restoration program that stripped away wasted steel, renewed structural framing and tackled long-deferred maintenance on everything from the underwater hull to interior compartments, according to supporters who describe $75 million in work as the most extensive in the ship’s history.
The Battleship Texas Foundation notes in its public guidance that the ship is still closed for regular tours while this work continues, answering the question many Texans ask in its own words: “Is the ship open?” The same guidance explains that Battleship Texas remains in a restoration phase, with reopening tied to safety and construction milestones rather than a fixed date.
Project updates describe crews and volunteers focusing heavily on the weather deck and superstructure, with a February briefing noting that, for the foreseeable future, work will center on the decks and on what one update simply labeled progress by volunteers and contractors.
Galveston becomes the permanent home
While the steel work unfolded in drydock, a separate debate played out on land over where the rejuvenated ship should live. That question has now been resolved in favor of Galveston, Texas.
Officials confirmed that nearly three years after leaving its berth by the San Jacinto Monument, the ship will dock permanently at a new pier in Galveston, ending years of uncertainty over its future homeport.
Local leaders have framed the move as a tourism and heritage investment, pointing to the ship’s presence in Galveston during repairs and the decision to formalize that arrangement at what is now called Galveston Pier.
The restoration work itself has taken place at Gulf Copper’s shipyard in the city, with supporters noting that The Battleship Texas arrived in Galveston, Texas for a major overhaul at Gulf Copper, Pelican Island, and that the goal is to reopen the ship to the public in late 2025. The reference to “35” in the same update underscores the ship’s formal designation as BB-35, a nod to its century-old origins in the era of coal and steel dreadnoughts.
The day the ship flooded itself
The renewed interest in USS Texas is not driven only by fresh paint and sounder steel. It is animated by a single episode off Normandy that has become a staple of public history tours and social media posts.
During the Normandy campaign, the ship’s 14 inch guns were tasked with hitting German positions that lay farther inland than designers had anticipated. The guns lacked the elevation to reach those targets, as veterans and historians have discussed in detail when explaining ship’s massive 14 limitations on range.
To solve that problem, the crew intentionally flooded a portion of the starboard torpedo blister, settling the ship lower and giving the main battery a few extra degrees of elevation. One account notes that this was not a stunt from June 6 itself but occurred on June 15, after Normandy beachheads had been secured and Allied troops were pushing inland.
Social media posts aimed at visitors now present the story in simple terms, telling readers that the USS Texas intentionally took on water so it could better support the D-Day invasion, a narrative that blends engineering improvisation with battlefield urgency.
Analysis of the episode by military historians has framed it as a calculated risk that reflected the ship’s age and the improvisational nature of naval gunfire support. One recent assessment, which refers to the episode as Battleship USS Texas on D-Day to Tilt Its Guns Toward Nazi Targets, argues that the act helped define the ship’s reputation as “Now America Most Historic Warsh,” a phrase that reflects both admiration and a touch of affectionate misspelling.
A living artifact of World War II
The D-Day story sits within a broader combat record that includes service in both World War I and World War II, with the ship providing fire support for Allied troops at Omaha Beach and later operations along the French coast.
Veterans’ groups and local historians emphasize that The USS Texas played a key role in the D-Day landings, with one summary noting that The USS Texas supported Allied forces at Omaha Beach and continued operations without retreating under fire.