COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 59 



This scene shows some of the exhausts hooked up to the machinery installed 

 inside the platform. Beside the installation of the deckhouse and Arctic 

 tower, it was necessary to install tropodisc radio antennas and the like. Due to 

 the length of the legs, which were from the ocean bottom some 2S5 feet in length, 

 the equivalent of a 28-story building, there was considerable motion, as you can 

 see in this picture, even after the platform was securely fastened to the legs. 



Inside the platform, living space was provided for 75 enlisted personnel and 

 8 officers, complete with a galley and a messhall. 



We also equipped a room as a sick bay to take care of the men permanently 

 assigned. 



While all the exterior work was going on, there was a tremendous amount of 

 work in progress in the platform itself. It was necessary, besides fixing up 

 these rooms that you are now witnessing, to hook up the seven 2.50-kilowatt 

 permanent diesel engine generators, as well as the evaporators, the portable 

 steam, lighting, heating system, and other mechanical equipment necessary to 

 maintain a platform of this size. 



The messhall was used not only for eating, but for recreation of the men, and 

 contained a television set which picked up many programs from shore. 



The final day arrived, and the Air Force came in on a helicopter to take 

 over the platform. During construction, it was impossible for us to use the 

 facilities of the helicopter, due to the fact that the main deck was used for storage 

 space for supply and equipment. 



After the Air Force left personnel to operate the tower, our men were then 

 loaded aboard the supply ship for the last time and taken ashore. After 

 4 months from the time we sailed from Portland, Maine, we left the tower in 

 the hands of the Air Force, who had the job of installing the radio and i-adar 

 equipment. 



Finally, after 2 years, and many hours of engineering and planning, we left 

 Texas tower No. 4, the second of two Texas towers which we constructed, with 

 a feeling of pride in having accomplished something that was unique in itself, 

 and the first of its kind constructed in the world. 



The picture which you have just witnessed shows some of the many extraor- 

 dinarily difficult engineering and construction problems which confronted us 

 during the erection of this tower. Perhaps the first challenge and critical 

 problem we were faced with during the construction was the upending of the 

 tower. It is important to know that never before this time had a similar opera- 

 tion been attempted, much less completed. One important thing was to pick a 

 time of the year in which we could be relatively sure of a fairly calm sea, in 

 order to erect the tower before the advent of the hurricane season. 



In the North Atlantic, hurricanes are prevalent from the first part of August, 

 through December. It was necessary to implant these towers, to complete the 

 concreting of the legs, and weld up the platform to the legs prior to the passing 

 of any hurricane. You can well imagine that most of our personnel became 

 weather experts during the construction. In fact, in the case of Texas tower 

 No. 3, a hurricane passed within 100 miles of the construction site only 7 days 

 after we arrived. 



Undoubtedly, we were very lucky in this instance, because if this hurricane 

 had changed its course a degree or two to the west, it would have completely 

 destroyed that tower. 



In addition to their location, many problems, such as mooring barges in 

 heavy seas, loading and unloading supplies, equipment, and personnel in dense 

 fog, wind, and tide, presented a never-ending challenge. All these problems were 

 met by a combination of engineering and construction know-how, so that today, 

 Texas towers 3 and 4 stand as a vital part of the early warning radar defense 

 of the United States, prepared to give early warnings in case of any enemy at- 

 tack. [End of film commentary.] 



Senator Stennis. All right, gentlemen. That is a very good pres- 

 entation. It shows much creditable work on the part of the Navy. 

 The erection of the tower was a tremendous undertaking, as this film 

 shows, more clearly than any testimony, however clear or however 

 eloquent it might be. 



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