Summary and Key Points: USS Texas, a preserved New York-class battleship commissioned in 1914, spent decades as a museum ship while corrosion steadily degraded her hull.
-Leaks, flooding, and a growing list to starboard underscored how urgent the problem had become. In 2022 she was moved to Gulf Copper in Galveston for a major structural restoration involving hull plating replacement, corrosion removal, and reinforcement of critical steel sections.
-As the rebuild progressed, Galveston was selected as her long-term berth at Pier 15, requiring dredging and a hardened mooring system. She remains in dry dock as of January 2026, with relocation expected later in 2026.
The “Homeless Battleship” Is Nearly Back: USS Texas Nears Her Galveston Return
The USS Texas (BB-35) is one of the few remaining non-Iowa-class battleships that has been preserved since their deactivation. Built as a New York-class Battleship, the USS Texas was first accepted into service back in 1914, over 111 years ago.
She served in both WWI and WWII, although her combat experience was relatively limited compared to the Iowa-class. Shortly after the war, Texas was converted into a museum ship, but after being left out in the elements for so long, her hull began to degrade, leading to a lengthy repair process. This period lasted so long that many nicknamed her “the homeless battleship.” After years of repairs and renovations, the USS Texas finally has a new homeport and is expected to return in 2026.
Texas Takes on Water
From 1947 onward, USS Texas was commissioned as a museum ship after serving in the Navy for over 40 years. This left her hull in a heavily warn and degraded state. From 1988-1990, she was sent to the drydocks in Galveston, TX for repairs. Repairs were further complicated when leaks were discovered in her hull in 2010 which caused her hull to sink by three feet.
The problems were further exacerbated by a broken pump which allowed her to take on more water than usual. Further issues were discovered in 2017, which were causing Texas to lean six degrees to starboard.
The push toward restoration began in earnest when the Battleship Texas Foundation concluded that continued deterioration made it impossible for the ship to remain at her longtime berth near the San Jacinto Battleground.
In 2022, Texas was moved to the Gulf Copper Dry Dock & Rig Repair facility in Galveston. This relocation marked a major turning point: it made possible a comprehensive rebuilding of her steel hull, which had been severely compromised after decades of exposure to the hot, humid coastal environment.
USS Texas battleship. Image: Creative Commons.
Image: Creative Commons.
Battleship USS Texas. Image: Creative Commons.
Once in dry dock, an extensive restoration campaign commenced. Sources describe the project as a multi-million-dollar effort involving the replacement of hull plating, removal of deeply embedded corrosion, reinforcement of steel structures, and overhauls of systems that had not been touched in decades.
What to do With Texas?
By 2023 and 2024, visible progress on the ship was ongoing and well-documented. Drone footage from April 2025 shows the ship in a stripped-down, highly industrial state as work crews labored over the vessel’s underside, superstructure, and internal framework.
The ship was being rebuilt from the steel outward, ensuring not only that she would remain watertight but that she could safely endure years, if not decades, of public visitation. The restoration was not simply cosmetic; it was structural and foundational, intended to secure the vessel for the long future her caretakers envisioned.
As the restoration gained momentum, attention shifted to a pressing logistical question: where would the ship ultimately be berthed once the work was complete? The need for a new permanent home sparked a lengthy and, at times, contentious debate.
Various sites were considered, but only a handful could realistically accommodate a vessel of Texas’ size and historical significance. In 2025, after months of negotiation and public commentary, the city of Galveston emerged as the preferred location. The Galveston Wharves Board of Trustees unanimously approved an agreement to permanently moor the ship at Pier 15, a site positioned between cruise terminals and within walking distance of the city’s historic Strand District. Pier 15 ultimately served as a compromise that addressed the objections while still providing a visible, accessible home for the ship.
The Homeless Battleship is Homeless No More
Once the site was chosen, further work was necessary to prepare it. Pier 15 required dredging to ensure sufficient depth and the construction of a sophisticated mooring system capable of withstanding severe weather conditions, including the possibility of storm surges up to nineteen feet and hurricane-force winds of up to 160 miles per hour.
Engineers, the Port of Galveston, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers all played roles in shaping this mooring plan.
Meanwhile, shoreside facilities needed to be designed or upgraded to support the ship’s future role as a modern museum. These infrastructural preparations ran parallel to the restoration, ensuring that the ship would have a safe, resilient, and fully functional home upon departure from dry dock.
By late 2025, sources reported that restoration was nearing its final phases. The Battleship Texas Foundation indicated that more than 300,000 hours of labor had been invested in the project since 2022 and that the ship was expected to move to her new berth sometime in 2026.
Although the exact timing of her transfer depended on both restoration progress and the completion of the Pier 15 mooring system, the final vision for the ship had come sharply into focus: a fully restored dreadnought, technologically modernized and structurally reinforced, ready to reclaim her place among America’s most significant historical vessels.
As of January 2026, USS Texas remains in the dry dock at the Gulf Copper facility in Galveston. She continues to undergo final restoration work while engineers prepare Pier 15 for her arrival. All authoritative reports confirm that she has not yet been relocated but is expected to make the move later in the year once remaining tasks are complete.
Thus, her current location is the same one she has occupied since her arrival in 2022: the Galveston dry dock where she is being readied for her long-awaited return to public display.
About the Author: Isaac Seitz
Isaac Seitz, a Defense Columnist, graduated from Patrick Henry College’s Strategic Intelligence and National Security program. He has also studied Russian at Middlebury Language Schools and has worked as an intelligence Analyst in the private sector.
