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Why were torpedoes installed on BB35 (or any battleship)?  What were they to be fired at?  The Bliss Leavitt Mark III (aboard in 1914) had a range of 4,000 yards at 26knots.  The Mark IX (aboard January 1915) range was 7,000 yards at 27knots.  Take almost one minute to travel 1 mile.  Battleship gun range was over 20,000 yards. 

When the fleet left Brest, France on 14 December 1918 for New York City, why was the course a southerly one via the Azores?  The ships deck log records going to the Azores.  Brest directly to New York is 3,341 miles (with the distance function of MapInfo 4.1).  The ships "Quarterly Cruise Report" records 3,600 knots which is 4,134 miles.  A direct route would have returned the crews to America before Christmas.  The New York Times was reporting NYC preparations for a pre-Christmas return.

When the side armor for turret 2 and 4 was cast, why were the openings for the range finders not part of the casting.  When the front face was cast, such openings were part of the process.  The rangefinder openings go through 9inch thick class A armor (front face is 14inch thick).  Wonder what was used when the openings were made in the New York Navy Yard.

In the 12 days BB35 remained in Norfolk Navy Yard after commissioning why where 8 to 39 workers (millwrights, shipfitters, riveters, helpers etc) from Newport News Shipyard and the Norfolk Navy Yard still working on the ships structure and systems? 

Why did NEW YORK use less fuel oil than TEXAS to  travel the same distance at the same speed?  The 1935 USN fuel allowance table for the 15 US battleships (on this website) shows this difference at every rate of speed from 5 - 20 knots.  Both were refitted in 1925-1926 with the same Dyson boilers (from the cancelled NORTH CAROLINA class).  Can not state with certainty the engines were exactly the same but both have the same size pistons and cylinders plus the same stroke length. 

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Started 11 May 1999 Chuck Moore, FTV (1st Texas Volunteers) BB35 volunteer group