LaPorte, Texas13 June 2012Wide pan of Battleship Texas sitting on Buffalo Bayou.SOT Andy Smith, Ship Manager of the Battleship Texas "We're on the Battleship Texas, the last remaining dreadnought, this is a historic ship that fought both in World War I and World War II, served in all theaters during World War II. It's a memorial ship that was given to the state of Texas in 1948 by the U.S. Navy." Medium shot of Battleship Texas sign with cardboard cutout of sailor saluting in the background. Wide shot of Smith walking down the ship's ramp. SOT Smith: "On Saturday our staff came onboard and saw the ship sitting a little bit different in the slip than she normally does. She had a list and she seemed to be lower in the water than she normally is. When the staff saw this, they started investigating, got down into the lower portions of the ship and discovered that we had taken on more water than we normally do in areas that we normally don't have water. So they started pumping throughout the day Saturday and it got progressively worse, so by Saturday evening we felt that we really needed more capacity, pumping capacity to get the water out than we currently had available online."Medium shot of two workers with a pump and a hose leading to the bottom of the ship. Natural sound of pump working.Tighter low shot of pump working, ship's ropes. Medium shot of pump, hose lowered into cavity.SOT Smith: "Eventually on Monday we discovered that that water when the flooding had come in and flooded these spaces that normally don't have water in them it had stirred up some residual oil that had been left over when it was an active war ship. The Navy pumped out a lot of that oil but they didn't necessarily clean out all of the tanks, and we hadn't done anything with them since, but once that water gets mixed in with that water now we have an environmental issue here for pumping that water off the ship so we contracted out a company to come in and clean up that oil. Basically, they're skimming that oil off the top of that water and we're pumping from the bottom of that water so...it seems like every time we turn around there's more oil because obviously it's very residual but it spreads really nice, especially in this nice Texas heat. So we're dealing with that our plan is to skim all that oil off. The last thing we want to do is get oil into the channel."Medium shot of orange boom floating in water.Wide shot of boom with oil storage tanks in background.Tight shot from low down of hoses snaking across ground. Tight shot of hoses snaking down the stairs into the ship's cavity. SOT William R. Bradshaw, 87-year-old World War II vet who served with the Navy: "And I went into the Navy and I served for three years. We made the invasion of Japan as the final thing, they just didn't shoot at us, but we were still there." Medium shot of Bradshaw sitting while tourists head up the ramp's ship. SOT Bradshaw: "It's kind of like coming home again because when you spend over two years on one at sea you get all the cruise experience you really want so it's something that it's nice to come back to."Medium shot of two boys playing with a cannon, one sitting atop the barrel. Medium shot of boy looking through the cannon's eyehole.Wide shot of boys playing with two cannons, pointing them at one another, while a third boy swings from the barrel of one of the cannons. Wide shot of tourists on ship. Medium/Tight low shot of missile with caution wet sign in background. =a1168BC-US--Leaky Battleship Texas, 3rd Ld-Writeth100-year-old Battleship Texas springs massive leakShip caretakers rush to pump out water, repair holes in leaky 100-year-old Battleship TexasAssociated Press= LA PORTE, Texas (AP) _ Children shimmy up the barrels of massive cannons on the upper decks of the 100-year-old Battleship Texas, focused on firing at an imaginary enemy and oblivious to the tension in the historic vessel's belly where a crew works on pumping out dozens of gallons of oil-laced water. The battleship where the young tourists roam became flooded over the weekend. Staff arrived Saturday and immediately noticed something was wrong with the ship that fought in World Wars I and II and has served since 1948 as a memorial and museum to those who sacrificed their lives. The vessel was sitting awkwardly in its slip. She was lower in the water and listing to the left. "We got down to the lower portions of the ship and discovered that we had taken on more water than usual in areas that we normally don't," ship manager Andy Smith said. "They started pumping throughout the day Saturday, and it got progressively worse." The situation was so dire by Sunday that the ship's caretaker, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, had to find more pumps to help remove the water. Smith said the news got worse on Monday. Water had entered areas that housed old oil tanks used when the ship was still in active duty and serving in every theater in World War II. The Navy had emptied out the oil before handing the vessel over to Texas, but hadn't cleaned out the tanks. Smith realized he had an environmental issue on his hands. He hired a company to skim the oil off the top of the water and set up boom in case any of it landed in Buffalo Bayou and the Houston Ship Channel. Meanwhile, Smith's pumps are working nonstop to remove the water from the bottom, and at least ensure no more liquids get on the vessel. "It seems like every time we turn around there's more oil because obviously it's very residual but it spreads really nice, especially in this nice Texas heat," Smith said. Until the oil is removed, workers can't get out all the water and look for the source of the problem, which could be several things. It is possible, he said, that the oil will be completely removed by late Wednesday. Then, it should only take a few hours to remove the water, though Smith said he is preparing for the possibility that more water will flow in for a short time after the oil is completely removed due to a change in pressure. Still, he hopes to at least know the source of the problem by Thursday so the crew can begin designing a repair plan. William R. Bradshaw, an 87-year-old World War II veteran who says he was on a Navy ship during the invasion of Japan, hopes to be a part of the repair effort. On Wednesday, he sat in a shady area of the vessel as rowdy children ran up the ramp. He was waiting to discuss with Smith whether the epoxy his plastics company produces can seal the holes, as it did in 1985 when the battleship had a five-month leak that befuddled the crew. "I've always thought that I would develop a product that would be dedicated to the Navy," Bradshaw said, proud that his company, Bradco Plastics, Inc., has had a part in ensuring future generations can visit the historic ship. "It's kind of like coming home again because when you spend over two years on one at sea, you get all the cruise experience you really want. So it's something that it's nice to come back to." Smith simply wants to get to the point where he can repair the problem and move ahead with a long-term, multimillion-dollar plan to build a dry berth for the battleship. "It's a mammoth effort to keep her preserved. She is an artifact. She is a museum, too," Smith said, noting that normally artifacts are preserved in a climate-controlled environment, "on velvet, under glass." "She can't be that way. We actually let people play on the artifact, run around on her, and the artifact interacts with the environment in a lot of negative ways," Smith said. "So we rust, constantly rust. There's deterioration, the sun beating down, hot, cold, all of that has an effect, long-term effect, on the ship."(****END****) VIDEO SOURCE: AP-----------------------VIDEO APPROVAL: Donna Starddard----------------------------VIDEO RESTRICTIONS: None----------------------------------MARKET EMBARGO (S): None--------------------------------SCRIPT/WIRE SOURCE: BC-US--Leaky Battleship Texas, 3rd Ld-Writeth