The Battleship Texas, a century-old World War Dreadnought turned museum ship, is truly part of world history. She will be calling Galveston home for the foreseeable future! We trace Battleship Texas from dreadnought legend to a revived future at Pier 15. Kandace Trujillo Gilman shares the hard engineering, funding strategy, and education plans that turn preservation into a sustainable mission for the last surviving dreadnought.

• defining a dreadnought and Texas’s big-gun design
• World War I service and five major World War II operations
• Why Galveston: attendance growth and sustainability
• Pier 15 dredging, monopiles, gangway, and ticketing
• historic deck restoration in longleaf yellow pine
• five-inch gun removal and heavy-lift logistics
• drainage fixes, interior restoration
• HNSA collaboration and sharing methods across fleets
• dry dock tours as fundraising and public education
• future programs: guided tours, overnights, special events

Galveston Unscripted on video!

What is Galveston Unscripted?

Follow Galveston Unscripted on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! More history content on Visit Galveston!

We open with a groan-worthy oyster joke, then dive into how reefs shaped Galveston Bay’s ecology, history, and seafood economy. We trace the move from open harvest to science-based management and examine restoration, recycling, and aquaculture as tools for a fragile, working bay.

• scale and role of Galveston Bay
• indigenous shell middens and cultural roots
• oysters as keystone reef builders
• growth rates, filtration, and habitat benefits
• industry history and economic impact
• regulation by TPWD
• license buybacks and private leases
• storm, flood, and drought threats
• partnerships in reef restoration and shell recycling
• hatcheries, resilient strains, and emerging aquaculture
• sustaining a wild fishery with clear rules

Galveston Unscripted on video!

What is Galveston Unscripted?

Follow Galveston Unscripted on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! More history content on Visit Galveston!

Two concrete tankers, the SS Selma and SS Durham, turn a wartime shortcut into coastal legend. We trace how steel shortages sparked bold builds, why those ships failed at sea, and how their wrecks still shape fishing, folklore, and engineering lessons.

• concrete ship origins during WWI steel shortage
• how reinforced concrete hulls promised speed and savings
• the Selma’s specs, accident, failed repairs, and scuttling
• the wreck as reef, prohibition liquor smash, local lore
• Frenchy LeBlanc’s hermitage and media spectacle
• the Durham’s whale-back design and underpowered engine
• miserable Tampico voyage, sales, towlines, collisions
• conversion to storage and Sportsman’s Pier, storm damage
• where to spot remains near Pelican Island and North Jetty
• why the fleet ended and what engineers learned about durability

Galveston Unscripted on video!

What is Galveston Unscripted?

Follow Galveston Unscripted on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! More history content on Visit Galveston!