From Wikipedia.
In the previous post, I mentioned the USS Texas so did some follow up on the vessel.
It was regarded as the first US Battkleship to be commissioned and mounted its main battery of two 12-inch gins amidships, one to a turret. Battleships later had main gun turrets fore and aft.
It was at the Battle of Santiago in the Spanish-American War in which the Spanish cruiser Vizcaya was sunk. Before the war, the ship had the reputation of being jinxed and sailors called her "Old Hoodoo."
The ship was renamed in 1911 to the San Marcos so that the new battleship Texas could have the name. This new Texas is still afloat as a museum in Texas, the oldest of our preserved battleships. One person wrote to Shorpy that they thought the new Texas' tampions were the ones made from the Vizcaya, but didn't know for sure.
The original Texas became a target ship and was sunk at Tangier Sound in Chesapeake Bay in 1911 and was used as that until the end of World War II. In 1959, it was demolished as a navigational hazard.
The Vizcaya was the pride of the Spanish fleet and sunk at the Battle of Santiago. Of interest, there is movie footage of its visit to New York City in February 1898, shortly before war broke out. Its secondary battery consisted of 5.5-inch guns and three are in the U.S. The two at Tennessee and Annapolis are still housed in their open turrets and the one at West Point is just the tube lying on the ground.
The 11-inch gun and turret are still visible where the ship sank in Cuba.
The Texas and Vizcaya. Both Sunk. --DaCoot
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