by Germà Coenders
1/350 USS Texas Battleship (Iron Shipwright)
The USS Texas was the only second class battleship that fought the Santiago Battle and of the entire US Navy at the time. Compared to a first class battleship she had a smaller displacement and endurance, thinner protection distributed over a smaller area of the hull, and about half as powerful armament. She can be considered to be slower but of about the same fighting value as the 3 Spanish Infanta Maria Teresa class armored cruisers. Even if not the best US ship at the battle, she fought with considerable energy and she engaged nearly all the Spanish ships at one time or the other. She was very active throughout the war, bombarding several times shore positions around Guantanamo and Santiago.
Vital statistics
-History. Laid down: 1889; launched: 1892; completed: 1895
-Dimensions: length: 94m; beam: 19.5 m; draught: 6.9 m; displacement:
6300 tons
-Armament: 2x12 in. (305 mm.) in single turrets disposed in a single
diagonally oriented barbette, 6x6 in. (152 mm.), 4 in sponsors and 2
shielded fore and aft, 12x 57mm, 4x42mm, 6x37 mm, 2 machine guns, 2
torpedo tubes.
-Armor: Harvey steel. 12 in (305 mm.) max. belt; 12 in (305 mm.) main
barbettes and turrets; 2 in (51 mm) deck.
-Engines: 2 VTE engines; 6 cylindrical boilers; 8,600 hp; 17 knots.
Endurance @10 knots: 2900 miles.
-Complement: 389
The model was built out of the box.
