Saturday, January 14, 2012

A HUGE REASON TO READ THE BOOK

I am Al Sumrall, co-author with Mark Cowan of "Old Hoodoo" The Battleship Texas (1895-1911). While we would love for you to obtain, read, and review our book "Old Hoodoo", there is a more important reason that transcends the story of the USS Texas.   Once you read this illustrated history  you will absolutely understand the reason we need to save the USS Olympia which is in grave danger of being lost in the next two years.  The book covers not only the story of the Texas in detail but also all the equipment used on the Texas and the fleet that surrounded it.    It is one thing to read a book about these subjects and look at pictures. It is quite another to actually walk the deck  and experience the history. The USS Olympia is the last chance to do that.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Spanish American War and "New Navy" links

To get the ball rolling and provide some content for discussion while we are preparing our first blogs, here are some excellent websites for those interested in the warships and history of the New Navy period.  These sites provide some overlap into the "Old Navy" as well as into the Dreadnaught/Super Dreadnaught era, for a bit of context.

Spanish American War Centennial Website
Naval History and Heritage Command - Their spotlight on the Spanish American War is here.
Navsource
Navweapons
Library of Congress
New York Public Library - The Brooklyn Navy Yard and associated personnel  played critical roles.
Vidamaritima - Spanish language
1898 Punto de Encuentro - Spanish language
Distant Guns - The only pre-Dreadnaught period naval simulation software of which I am aware.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Greetings!

Welcome to our "Old Hoodoo" blog!  We hope to make this blog a useful and entertaining place to discuss topics relating to the era of the "New Navy" in general and the USS Texas / USS San Marcos in particular.  Of course if this helps to introduce folks to our new book "Old Hoodoo" The Battleship Texas then so much the better!

It is available from Amazon (US) or you can buy it here directly from the publisher:
https://www.createspace.com/3675169

Please feel free to ask questions here and suggest topics for discussion.

More to come!