Last TuesdayI walked the deck of a historic battleship, the U.S.S. Texas, at the Battleship Texas State Historical Site.  I was appropriately amazed at the steep narrow stairs, the magnificent guns, the ponderous anchors, the narrow galley and the baking kitchen, where 640 loaves of bread were baked each day. 

The Battleship Texas was one of four United States ships to be named after Texas.  North Dakota has had only one, also a battleship, that was decommissioned in 1923.

With Johnny Horton’s “The Sinking of the Bismarck” marching through my brain, I reflected on a resolution that passed the North Dakota State Legislature in April, 2007.  The resolution called for the Secretary of the Navy to name another ship after North Dakota.  After walking the U.S.S. Texas, I have a better understanding of what a ship named after a state can do for that state, and I wish whole-heartedly for a second U.S.S. North Dakota. 

The battleship U.S.S. North Dakota was sold for scrap in 1931.  A model of the battleship is on display at the North Dakota Heritage Center.  Pictures and more information on the U.S.S. North Dakota can be found on its Wikipedia site and  on the Naval Historical Center site; more sites are available if you search on google or yahoo.

(Incidentally, I discovered on the way home that ND isn’t any flatter than the parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Texas and Louisianna we visited.)