02-01-10 Regular Meeting of the La Porte Development Corporation Board of Directors minutes

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Normandy on June 6, 1944. The Texas was part of the bombardment group with responsibility for direct fire support of the landings. This placed her close to the beaches so her 14" and 5" guns could be most effective against German shore batteries. Before the landings, the Texas shelled the known German bunkers guarding the Omaha invasion beach. During the landings, she shelled the area behind the bunkers to keep German troops away from the coast; on June 6, the Texas fired 445 rounds of 14" armor-piercing and high-explosive shells. Following the landings, she responded to radio calls from the Allied soldiers seeking suppressive fire on specific positions so the ground troops could advance inland. On June 15, after the landings had taken place, the fire control center aboard the Texas received a request for supporting naval gunfire. The request was not unusual; but the source of the request was unusual. The request came from the pilot of a British spotter plane. He reported that "elements of two German armored divisions are massing at (and here he gave the grid coordinates identifying the location of the German tanks);" he asked if any ships could fire on that location to destroy the German tanks. The location was approximately 14 miles from the beach. One can only imagine the havoc that could have been unleashed on the Allied foot soldiers if a large contingent of German armor was able to attack and disrupt the invasion. Obviously, this was a problem that needed a quick solution. Aboard the Texas the options were limited. Because of the constraints imposed on U. S. Navy battleships (as well as on the battleships of other major naval powers) by the Conference on the Limitation of Armaments (usually known as the "Washington Naval Treaty of 1922"), the 14" main guns ofthe Texas had a maximum range of only 12 miles. That range limitation was a product of the post- Wodd War I idealistic notion that battleships should not be able to shoot any farther than they could see (and thus, visually identify their targets). This was obviously before radar and before radar-directed fire control. The treaty limitation meant that the Texas had steel "stops" welded in place in each gun turret which restricted the ability of the guns to be elevated beyond 12 degrees. On the Texas, 12 degrees of elevation equated to 12 miles of range. The Captain ofthe Texas had a problem: he needed to be able to shoot 14 miles to help save the lives of Allied troops, but his guns were limited to only a 12 mile range. Fortunately, as an American naval officer dedicated to the success of the Allied mission, he also had a solution to the problem. He maneuvered the ship to place the port side parallel to the beach; then he ballasted down on the starboard side. This had the effect of raising the port side farther out of the water and also raising the elevation of the guns. When his Gunnery Officer told the Captain that sufficient elevation had been attained to permit the guns to shoot the required 14 miles, the ballasting was stopped and the Texas commenced firing on the grid coordinates. 9