Special Feature:
San Jacinto Battleground State Park
Battleship Texas Hard Hat Tour
La Porte (Houston), Texas
January 18, 2003
Conning Tower
Armored Conning Tower, Conning Tower Fire Control Booth
Following the conclusion of the regular Hard Hat Tour, I had the great luck to be allowed to visit the armored conning tower, where the ship's captain would con the battleship during battle stations. The conning tower also contained a fire control booth at the rear of the compartment from which the main battery could be controlled. Since the conning tower itself was armored, the fire control booth was separated from the rest of the space by a bulkhead doubling as a splinter shield. The conning station had a duplicate set of equipment and instruments from the pilothouse, a set of slim ports to look through and in addition to the hatch we used, the upper end of the armored tube coming up five decks from Central Station. The fire control booth contained fire control equipment backing up the main control station down in Main Plot. My thanks go to Barry Ward, Dennis Mitchell, Charles Moore and Tom Scott and all of the First Texas Volunteers for making the tour of the conning tower possible.
The Photos
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Conning Tower
Conning Tower Fire Control Booth
For More Information:
San Jacinto Battleground State Historical Park
USS Texas Volunteers Hard Hat Tour Information
USS Texas History and Information