NORFOLK, Va. (WHSV) – 130 years ago on Aug. 15, 1895, the U.S. Navy commissioned the country’s first battleship, the USS Texas, which was built in Virginia at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Machinery for the vessel was built at Richmond Locomotive Works, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command website. The USS Texas was the first of many all-steel vessels to be built by the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, which is the oldest shipyard in the nation and predates the U.S. Navy itself…