Museums in Galveston

 Galveston sits on a narrow sliver of land in the Gulf of Mexico and its total existence both good and bad revolves around the sea. To get an idea about offshore oil drilling an operational rig was retired and turned into a museum. Compared to the modern rigs, this one is pretty small.

 On the rig there were a lot of displays and it was very interesting. That big round pipe behind Grammie is one of the 3 legs which are forced downward onto the sea floor and used to lift up the rig out of the water.

It didn't take me long to realize I wasn't cut out for this, although my head was. Not to mention my headless partner was kind of unsettling.

 I thought I'd lend this ROV a hand and it tried to take my whole arm.

 After visiting the oil rig we went across the bay to Pelican Island to check out the museum for war vessels. This was an actual sub used during WW2. Its the only sub left that actually sank a Japanese aircraft carrier.

 This is the torpedo room. Its kind of eerie to think that torpedoes were sent out of these tubes and sank ships. This is not a mock up but an actual war machine. 

These are the diving wheels. Turning these raises or lowers the diving planes causing the sub to dive or rise.

 The other ship at the museum is USS Stewart, a Destroyer Escort. It served in the North Atlantic escorting convoys and as a sub hunter during WW2. The round display in front of the ship is a memorial for all the American subs which sank during the war. There are 52 markers, one for each sunken sub.

 Although its a lot smaller than some of the battleships we toured, its still something to see how it functioned and how the sailors lived aboard it. 

 Take the toilets for example. 6 stalls for 150 sailors. Imagine what it would have been like if dysentery hit. I never noticed there wasn't any paper until too late.

Just off shore lies this ship wreck. During the war, because of a steel shortage, a number of concrete ships were made. This one ran aground near Florida and was sent to Galveston for repair. No one could figure out how to repair a concrete ship so a channel was dug and it was beached there where it still sits. Lots to see in Galveston; the only thing better would have been a few planes thrown in.