The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

HOUSTON — The Battleship Texas, closed for a week to allow a salvage company time to repair a leak that the historic vessel developed June 9, will be open to the public again starting Saturday.

“We closed the ship last week so that divers could locate and repair the leak,” said Andy Smith, Battleship Texas State Historical Site superintendent. “That has been done and we plan on reopening the Texas in time for weekend visitors to enjoy exploring this century-old vessel.”

Battleship Texas

Smith said pumping of water from the ship has been completed and that it has not taken on any new water in more than 48 hours.

While the leak has been patched, efforts are ongoing to clean the remaining oil disturbed by the flooding -therefore all areas below the Second Deck will be closed to facilitate this until further notice.

TPWD has been working for some time toward the permanent dry-berthing of the ship, with details of that available at http://www.dryberthTEXAS.com

If a dry-berth solution that the department can afford cannot be found, Smith said TPWD will shift its efforts to repairing the ship in place.

Anyone wishing to make a donation toward the preservation of the 100-year-old battleship may do so at http://www.battleshiptexas.org