Battleship Texas Offers Group Overnight Stays

LA PORTE, TX — If you or your child have never looked through the sight of a .50 caliber machine gun, then you’re in for a treat.

The last day of school will be here before you know, and if you have a child that thrives on adventure then spending the night on the Battleship Texas could be in the offing.

In fact, the caretakers of America’s last surviving dreadnought — and a veteran of both world wars — is taking reservations for boys and girls 6-15 years old.

For 15-years, the Battleship Texas Foundation has offered up bunks inside the historic floating museum for $42 per person.

Kandace Trujillo, overnight education program manager for the Battleship Texas Foundation, is the hands-on guide for anything related to the battleship.

Trujillo moves quickly from one berthing area to the next, and stops long enough to pull back one of the green plastic foam sleeping mats covering a suspended canvas cot, where someone scrawled graffiti decades earlier.

“We have go through them to make sure that they’re kid-appropriate, and a lot of them are not,” she said.

When the ship is at capacity for overnight visitors, there will be 130 guests, which include chaperones, but when at the height of its service the then U.S.S. Texas held up to 1,800 personnel.

Since 1948, the Battleship Texas has been docked near the Houston Ship Channel across from the San Jacinto Monument in La Porte.

The New York-class ship was commissioned in 1914, and saw action in both world wars, participating in every amphibious landing in World War II, including Iwo Jima and D-Day.

The ship is an amazing museum that includes a mocked-up operating room, barbershop, ship's galley, and a store that includes replica 1940s magazines and cigarettes.

On the other end of the ship, where the Marines were berthed, visitors can see a mocked up armory with M-1 Garand rifles and steel pot helmets.

It’s part of the history that students who take part in the overnight program learn about.

While part of that history is shared through a grainy black and white video, other parts are hands-on, such as the guided exploration of the ship to areas that regular tourists don’t see, and a scavenger hunt.

Breakfast is served the next morning and participants receive an official patch and certificate from the Battleship Texas Foundation before they leave.

Trujillo said most of their visitors are first time visitors on the overnight tour, but there are some who’ve come back several times to receive chevrons for their patch.

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Image: Bryan Kirk/Patch

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