Battleship Texas closed until further notice after leak

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BySteve Campion KTRK logo
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Battleship Texas closed for emergency leak repairs
Battleship Texas closed for emergency leak repairs, Steve Campion reports.

La Porte, Texas (KTRK) -- The Battleship Texas has been closed until further notice after emergency repairs for a leak.

The park sent out a message Sunday indicating that they shut the ship down around 2:45 p.m.

SkyEye was over the ship Monday morning, which showed the ship tilting down into the water about 15 degrees.

Park officials said they discovered more leaks than usual while crews were doing routine maintenance.

"At this point, the only way to save the ship is to get her out of the water. We need to dry berth Battleship Texas at this point in time," said Stephanie Croatt with Texas Parks and Wildlife. "The big problem is water. Plain and simple. We've got more water than the pumps can handle."

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The park is still open, but the ship will remain closed until crews fix the issue. They have brought in additional pumps and are working to get the water out and patch the holes.

There's no word on what caused the leaks.

As of Tuesday, The Battleship Texas' list was at about 3.8 degrees, improving from 8 degrees yesterday. Normal list for the battleship is 1.8 degrees. Proactive efforts are still ongoing with the continuation of patching vulnerable areas of the ship's hull and pumping off water, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

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