Small boats came to the pier to take locals to see the powerful ship.
by Richard Senate
The Battleship USS TeSmall boats came to the pier to take locals to see the powerful ship.xas (BB-35) is now in a drydock being restored. It was feared she might be lost if these actions were not taken. Today she is a floating museum permanently on display at the San Jacinto battlefield near Houston, Texas. Few today know that this famed ship once visited Ventura on Navy Day, 1924, anchored off the pier, and open for tours.
Small boats came to the pier to take locals to see the powerful ship. This ship had a number of firsts. She was the first to have a permanent consignment of Marines and the first to be armed with anti-aircraft guns. She was one of the few warships to serve in both World Wars. Her crew of 1,042 men nicknamed her “The Big T” and she weighed in at 27,000 tons and she was armed with ten inch guns set two to a turret.
In World War One she patrolled the North Sea to bottle up the Kaisers Imperial fleet. In World War Two she was part of the 1942 invasion of North Africa. In 1944 she played an important part in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, even moving in close to the beach to give coving fire to American G.I.s on the beach and she took withering fire from German Guns. After the war she was decommissioned in 1948 to become one of the first floating museums, berthed in Texas.
Perhaps her visit should be honored with a plaque on the pier, or a model of this warship built and displayed at the Ventura County Maritime Museum.
