--Originally Posted 7/19/14--

Ever notice how you just can't get away from reminders of Texas BB-35, on TV and the Silver Screen?

Computer-graphic rendering of Texas, at left, with other USN BBs behind, from the movie "Flags of Our Fathers" (see below).

I'm serious: in fact, yet another mention of her was just encountered, even while compiling this post - actually, not on TV but DVD - of the circa-1950 movie "Suddenly", with Frank Sinatra and Sterling Hayden. And Ed Gleason as the Old Geezer, who, at 0:04:25 says: "That's Technical Talk, boy - I was radio operator on the battleship Texas in World War One...!"()

That film debuted in theaters at- or about the same time as another set of movie newsreels including glimpses of Texas - later shown as a bona-fide TV documentary serial, today of course preserved on DVD - the "Victory at Sea" series:


Click on Image to EnlargeAt left, Texas (or, it occurs to me, any of these could also be her sister, BB-34 New York) is shown for a moment in Victory At Sea - Chapter 9: "Sea and Sand" - plodding serenely in convoy to the Operation Torch landings in North Africa. Appearing again, at center and -right, in Chapter 23: "Target Suribachi", unleashing a broadside against Iwo Jima, during the amphibious landing there. Note before firing she looks uniformly dark - consistent with Texas' overall Navy Blue 5-N, worn at Iwo - however, once the giant fireball from (at least) her forward 4x guns lights up her topworks, they look far brighter than 5N: instead, now more consistent with the lighter-overall, disruptive-type camo worn at Iwo by New York. Clearly some trick of the light must be at work in at least one of these frames - you can pretty much take your pic as to how, and whether it is actually Texas or New York that is shown.

Regardless of definitive identification though, clearly the best such clip in Victory At Sea has got to be the following:

Here, with the entire port side virtually exploding in full broadside - turning daylight exposure into apparent night against Mount Suribachi - Texas (or, again, her sister) opens up from truly lethal, point-blank range. The salvo blast so stark and gigantic that the ship herself appears to be blowing up, this is a perfect USN companion to the classic shot of Bismarck doing the same.

Yet further clips of Texas (and/or again, New York) appear - now in color - on the DVD documentary set: "Iwo Jima: 36 Days of Hell":


Click on Image to EnlargeAt left, a New York class BB takes turns with a heavy (Pensacola class?) cruiser in the foreground, New Mexico-class BB at left, and (distinctive silhouette of the reconstructed) BB Nevada, behind, in shelling Iwo Jima. At right, an overall-dark blue BB - surely Texas - cuts loose yet another broadside against Iwo. Although, like the above (black-and-white) Victory at Sea frames, again seen from the front, firing to starboard, with mast-top flag looking very much the same, this is not printed from the same original - as careful comparison reveals the two were shot from different elevations.

Those are some historical archives - but Texas also appears in the fictionalized re-creation, "Flags of Our Fathers":


Click on Image to EnlargeAt left, without introduction nor fanfare, Texas appears - rendered using computer-graphics - her aft batteries roaring out against Iwo Jima, followed a moment later by her forward guns, as at left-center. Later on, another clip, as at right-center and right, shows her firing from the opposite side - but not simply in a mirror-copy: note the angle on the bow is now a bit narrower, with muzzle blasts and background, etc., not exactly the same as in the prior clip, either. The aft guns do again fire first, followed by the forward ones - probably so the lighting calculations didn't have to be changed much (if at all), in the computer-rendering.

In any event, the overall dark blue appearance leaves no doubt that the above depicts Texas - who, indeed, works her way back into every scene showing a(ny) BB(s), in the movie:


Click on Image to EnlargeEven when showing only the bow of a BB, as at left, that nose belongs to Texas! And at right - even with the subject being a devastating (fictional) hit on an Iowa-class BB, by a Japanese shore battery - still Texas(' aft end) is included, in the foreground.

Several of the above clips are repeated as well in the companion movie, "Letters from Iwo Jima".

So clearly, (at least) somebody loves to put Texas "on TV":


And we love to see her, there!

Cheers,

- Matty