16 COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 
The contract price for the design and specifications of the five 
towers amounted to $600,000, of which the Moran, Proctor firm was 
to receive $450,000 and the Anderson-Nichols Co. $150,000. Contract 
administration costs and change orders increased the total cost to 
$953,000. 
4. Construction of the Texas towers 
By letter dated December 29, 1954, the district public works officer 
of the First Naval District requested an acceleration of the design 
of Texas tower No. 2 on Georges Bank. The shipyard construction 
of tower No. 2 proceeded almost simultaneously with the design in 
that there was only a 1-month leadtime between design and actual 
fabrication of the elements of the structure. Tower No. 2 was con- 
structed under a cost-plus-fixed-fee BuDocks contract. NOy—88201 by 
the DeLong Corp. in a joint venture with Raymond Concrete Pile 
Co. and was completed in November 1955. 
The initial design for tower No. 2 called for the installation of I- 
bar link bracing. DeLong objected to the bracing on the ground that 
from his experience as a pioneer in this field, he knew that it could 
be built differently by eliminating the bracing and increasing the depth 
of the embedment of caissons and the design engineers permitted this 
to be done. 
The DeLong method of constructing tower No. 2 consisted of the 
platform being first supported by auxiliary legs from which the per- 
manent legs were lowered, embedded, and stiffened before the weight 
of the platform was transferred to the permanent legs. The con- 
struction of tower No. 2 in the use of the DeLong method proceeded 
without incident. It is located in 56 feet of water, possesses legs of 
10 feet in diameter with a 15-foot diameter for embedment purposes 
which extends to a depth of 48 to 50 feet below the ocean floor to 15 
feet above for abrasion protection. Its platform is at an elevation of 
61 feet above mean sea level. 
On November 20, 1955, tower No. 2 was subjected to a severe storm 
with sustained winds from the northeast of 75 miles per hour and 
waves of 45 to 50 feet in height. Breaking waves from opposing 
seas caused by tidal currents or shifting winds in a clapotis effect 
threw water against the bottom of the platform four times during 
the course of the storm. The “flying bridge” or rotating maintenance 
platform suspended 14 feet below the tower platform suffered some 
damage from wave action. However, there was no structural dam- 
age to the tower itself. There was no increase in design criteria for 
the remaining two towers resulting from the knowledge and exper- 
jence gained from this storm at tower No. 2. 
Invitations to bid for the construction of towers Nos. 1, 3, 4, and 
5 were issued by the district public works officer on July 5, 1955. 
During the bidding period, tower No. 5 was eliminated because of 
fund limitations. Under the bidding procedure, the prospective 
builders were permitted to bid on each tower separately and on any 
combination of the towers. The DeLong-Raymond joint venture was 
the low bidder on all the towers individually except tower No. 4 and 
all combinations of towers except combinations where tower No. 4 
was involved. Accordingly, it was the recommendation of Captain 
Albers that the DeLong-Raymond joint venture be awarded the con- 
tract for the construction of towers Nos. 1 and 3 and that the J. Rich 
