Gulf Copper Shipyard in Galveston Selected for Repair of Battleship Texas
Posted by Battleship Texas Foundation on October 27, 2021
LA PORTE—The Battleship Texas Foundation (BTF) has selected Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corporation’s Galveston shipyard as the location for the repair of the Battleship Texas. With the support of the Battleship Texas Foundation and Valkor Energy Services (BTF’s project management and engineering firm for the ship repair), Gulf Copper recently acquired a floating drydock capable of lifting the Battleship Texas out of the water for necessary and extensive hull repairs.
Gulf Copper’s new drydock acquisition is a critical milestone in the Battleship Texas’s $35 million hull repair project. Gulf Copper’s new drydock makes their Galveston shipyard viable for the Battleship Texas hull repair. In addition, the location of the yard in Galveston significantly reduces the risk of towing the Battleship to drydock since the tow is both in sheltered waters and the distance is much shorter than other potential options. The project group including the BTF, the operator of the Battleship Texas, Valkor, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the ship’s owner, has worked carefully to mitigate the risks to the ship throughout the entire project. The Battleship Texas is projected to enter Gulf Copper’s new Galveston drydock in the second quarter of 2022, after the dry dock is made ready for the battleship.
Since the ship closed to the public in August 2019, BTF, TPWD, and Valkor have worked to prepare the ship for the shipyard. As one of one the preparation activities, Resolve Marine Group was contracted in 2020 to prepare the ship for tow by BTF and Valkor. BTF, Resolve, and Valkor worked for six months to drastically reduce the amount of water leaking into the Battleship Texas. By installing over 750,000 gallons of expanded foam, this team reduced the leak rate from 2,000 gallons per minute to under 20 gallons per minute, making the ship significantly safer to tow.
The Battleship Texas Foundation operates the Battleship Texas under a 99-year memorandum of understanding from TPWD who owns the battleship. In 2019, the Texas legislature passed SB1511 directing TPWD to enter a 99-year lease with a qualified nonprofit to operate the ship. In the same session, the legislature appropriated $35 million to fund the hull repair of Battleship Texas.
The Battleship Texas Foundation would like to thank its partners – Valkor Energy Services, Resolve Marine Group, TPWD, and Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corporation – for achieving this milestone in the long-term survival of Battleship Texas.