East Coast 

26 December 1918 to 19 July 1919

 

January 1919 Modifications

Following the 25 December 1918 return from Europe, BB35 went into the NY Navy Yard from 4 - 31 January 1919 during which 

  • Installed a 2nd airplane fly-off platform atop turret 4.  
  • Removal of range finder makings of the side of the turrets
  • Reduced number of  5inch guns from 16 to 12.   The removal could have happened during the 19 June to 14 July 1919 New York Nary Yard period.  Photos of TEXAS in the Panama Canal, 25 July 1919 show empty gun locations for 3, 4, 5, and 6.  This was the 3rd of five gun removals from 2nd deck and the 3rd of seven ship-wide configurations.

 

 

14 April - 2 May 1919  New York City

  • Arrival date based on caption referencing the 9 March flight had happened leaving only 14 April as the arrival date in NYC

  • A Sopwith Camel is on fly-off platform atop Turret 4.

  • Can not tell from this angle if 2nd deck 5inch guns 3,4,5 and 6 are present

East Coast Operations
Coming out of the New York Navy Yard on 31 January, east coast operations was a short period until the 19 July departure from Hampton Roads, Va for the Pacific. Operations were almost entirely in the Caribbean and in the Atlantic for the first trans-Atlantic airplane flight

10 March - First airplane flight from a turret platform on an American battleship
On 9 March BB35 arrived at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and a Sopwith Camel was brought aboard.  On 10 March, with the ship stationary,  Lt. Comdr. Edward O McDonnell flew  the airplane off of the platform atop Turret 2.  (McDonnell was previously aboard BB35 as a passenger returning from Europe in December 1918).  This was the first such flight from an American battleship.  The wheels of the airplane were 44 feet from the end of the platform.  A second flight took place on the 11th.

 

 7 - 21 May - Station ship first trans-Atlantic airplane flight

TEXAS station ship southwest of the Azores Islands  for the US Navy Curtis seaplanes flying west from Portugal.

25 May - Enters the Panama Canal for the Pacific (1st of 16 crossings)
On 19 July, TEXAS and the rest of the battleship fleet left Hampton Roads, VA, for relocation to the Pacific for the next 4.5 years. Entering the Panama Canal on the 25th was the ship's first of 16 Panama Canal crossings.