18 COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 
such a serious objection to the use of pin-connected braces and the 
Kuss tip-up method that a pioneer in the field “wanted no part of it.” 
So, too, Mr. Anderson, when asked whether he would have used pin 
connections if he were designing the tower, testified: “I would ques- 
tion very much that we would.” 
The J. Rich Steers, Inc.-Morrison-Knudsen bid for tower No. 4 was 
almost identical to its bid for tower No. 3 even though it was to be 
erected in far deeper water, would require a great deal of extra work 
in fabrication and installation of the bracing, and, generally, was a 
far more ambitious undertaking. Mr. Rau, vice president and chief 
engineer of J. Rich Steers, Inc., testified that his corporation had had 
a great deal of experience in marine construction but lacked experi- 
ence in the use of jacks and jacking assemblies for elevating the plat- 
forms upon thelegs. Mr. Raustated: 
Therefore we associated ourselves with Morrison-Knudsen in September of 
1955 because they had with them a man named Lucas, who was a former partner 
of DeLong’s for a number of years, and had experience, a number of experiences, 
in jacking up the platforms. 
Mr. Lucas was then under a prohibition by agreement with the 
DeLong Corp. not to compete or assist anyone to compete in the type 
of enterprise in which the DeLong Corp. was engaged. The DeLong 
Corp. brought suit against Lucas and was awarded damages of $647,- 
000 plus interest for breach of the agreement as constituting the 
proximate cause of the loss of the contracts by DeLong for the con- 
struction of Texas towers Nos. 3 and 4.1® 
A lump sum contract NOy-88202 for $16,481,000 was awarded to 
J. Rich Steers, Inc.-Morrison-Knudsen as a joint venture for the con- 
struction of towers Nos. 3 and 4 in November 1955. 
J. Rich Steers, Inc. (hereinafter abbreviated as Steers) owned the 
greater percentage of the joint venture and assumed construction man- 
agement and responsibility for the project with Morrison-Knudsen 
furnishing primarily support personnel. Steers first tried to sub- 
contract the fabrication to Bethlehem Steel but their workload would 
not permit it. Consequently, Continental Copper & Steel Industries, 
Inc., received the subcontract for fabrication from Steers and leased 
the South Portland, Maine, basin for the prefabrication work. 
The construction of Texas tower No. 3 proceeded by utilizing tem- 
porary legs to bear the weight of the platform until the permanent 
legs were lowered, embedded, and stiffened. It was placed on Nan- 
tucket Shoals in 82 feet of water. Its legs have a constant diameter 
of 14 feet and are embedded into the ocean floor to a depth of 60 feet. 
Its construction appears to have progressed without incident except 
that one permanent leg became tilted in being lowered to the ocean 
kottom and this was not corrected. Tower No. 3 was completed late 
in 1956. 
During fabrication of Texas tower No. 4, Steers requested several 
change orders which deviated from the original design and these were 
approved by the design engineers and the Navy’s Bureau of Yards and 
Docks, the latter also having previously approved the design specifica- 
tions. These changes had several major consequences: 
15 DeLong Corporation v. Lucas (1959), 176 Fed. Supp. 104 affirmed on appeal (1960), 
278 F. 2d 804. 
