Large Model, USS Texas (BB-35) Trench Art

Description

Large Model, USS Texas (BB-35) Trench Art, circa WWI, 91" L by 18" W x 34" H.
This model of the USS Texas was in horrible shape when we acquired her almost a year ago. Our artisans have gently restored the model to it's as built configuration. According to the seller (undocumented) the model was made aboard the Texas during the 1920's, after WWI, in one of her many shipboard shops from scraps of materials that had little value and were available at the time. Hence the term "trench art". Many hours went into building this "made from scratch" model, and the detail is exquisite and the line are true. She wound up in Washington DC (perhaps a Senator's or Representative's Office?) and was salvaged by us from on old garage in the NE part of the city. She is truly one of a kind.
Some background on the ship: USS Texas (BB-35), is a former United States Navy New York-class battleship. She was launched on 18 May 1912 and commissioned on 12 March 1914. Soon after her commissioning, Texas saw action in Mexican waters following the "Tampico Incident" and made numerous sorties into the North Sea during World War I. When the United States formally entered World War II in 1941, Texas escorted war convoys across the Atlantic and later shelled Axis-held beaches for the North African campaign and the Normandy Landings before being transferred to the Pacific Theater late in 1944 to provide naval gunfire support during the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Texas was decommissioned in 1948, having earned a total of five battle stars for service in World War II, and is now a museum ship near Houston, Texas.