The USS Texas (BB-35) is one of the first two modern-day battleships constructed by the United States Navy. It was commissioned on 3/12/1914.

The USS Texas served with distinction in three conflicts:
1-The Tampico Affair and Battle of Veracruz, Mexico in April 1914
2-World War I
3-World War II

It and its twin, the USS New York, were constructed copying the basic design of the HMS Dreadnought of Britain's Royal Navy commissioned in 1906. Dreadnoughts have 5 main twin-gun turrets and were first to use steam-driven turbines for propulsion. The Texas is the last surviving dreadnought-class battleship.

The Texas has these distinctions:
1-Most powerful weapon of war in the world when commissioned in 1914
2-First naval vessel to launch and land aircraft beginning in 1919
3-First battleship to have anti-aircraft batteries installed
4-First battleship to have a unit of marines permanently assigned to it
5-First battleship to be converted into a museum and listed in the registry of historic places
6-Tested early radar systems in 1939
7-Provided escort for the German naval surrender to the allies in WWI
8-Only battleship to see action on three continents in WWII: Africa, Europe and Asia
9-Gave artillery support for the invasion of North Africa with young war correspondent Walter Cronkite on board
10-Was the US Navy's flagship for the D-Day invasion of Europe in June 1944
11-Gave artillery support for the invasion of southern France in August 1944
12-Gave artillery support for the 1945 amphibious invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific theater
13-Returned home 5,000 U.S. troops after WWII ended as part of operation "Magic Carpet"

The Texas had two unknowable, but serious, original design flaws:
1-Its guns could not aim up into the sky. No weaponry for protection from enemy aircraft.
2-It couldn't shoot over the horizon

The Texas was designed just 6 years after Kitty Hawk. No one envisioned aircraft able to carry weapons and bombs back then. Also, during its design, nobody envisioned the invention of radar that allows detecting an enemy over the horizon. So the Texas was specifically designed to fire its main 14" guns only 13 miles, the limit of horizontal visibility.

The Texas overcame both obstacles. The Texas was first to install anti-aircraft artillery. The Texas was able to fire over the horizon by timing the firing of it's big guns to when waves tilted them at a higher angle and used a more powerful charge.
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