Damage control was a co-ordinated effort that was supervised by the ship's first lieutenant and required the ability to communicate with every part of the ship.  He was located in Central Station where he had both powered and sound powered telephone along with intercom systems that allowed individual and broadcast communications with every part of the ship.  Photos on the left show the PBX phone panel, the sound powered phone panel, fire alarm panel and ship's intercom.

3rd Deck hatch combing and doors

A hull breech just a few feet in size can admit water at a rate that exceeds a ship's total pump capacity.  Therefore, most of the ship is compartmentalized to restrict flooding to a relatively small area that is manageable.  Texas' second deck is well above the waterline and if it floods the ship is probably too far gone to save, so there is little need for watertight doors and hatches.  The third deck is only a couple of feet above the waterline so major bulkhead doors are watertight and have high sills to reduce flooding throughout the deck.  Hatches to lower decks are also watertight and have high combings so that water will not pour into lower levels.  Levels below the third deck do not have corridors, and compartments are entered either from rooms directly above or from adjoining compartments through watertight doors.

Looking up from hold level through 2nd plat., 1st plat. and 3rd deck.

If the ship was taking on water, it was critical to know its trim and list so that effective corrective action could be taken.  The left photo is of a Draft Indicator containing a moveable panel with a compressed profile of the ship's hull along with deck and frame markings.  A reference waterline could be set using information from the Draft gauge.  The profile tilted behind the waterline reference to indicate fore and aft trim, and show decks and compartments subject to flooding.  The second shows the Inclinometer indicating degree of ship list, or leaning to the left or right.  These two instruments combine to accurately indicate the effects of flooding and help form strategies for countering it.  The right photo is of a Draft gauge that precisely measures distance from the waterline to the ship's keel.

The weight of water taken on board when flooding occurs will make the ship list and it is important to correct the list for a number of reasons.  If the leak cannot be sealed and the water pumped out, the best way to correct listing is to counterflood.  This requires intentionally flooding other parts of the ship to re-balance and right it.  The top photo shows one of scores of stations on the ship's third deck that were mechanically linked to flood and drain valves in remote locations of the ship.  Large pumps provided suction to manifolds having several valves attached that allowed selective draining of compartments.  Controlled flooding of lower deck spaces were in a similar fashion, except seawater was admitted without the need for pumps.  In addition to pumps dedicated to control of flooding, fire pumps could also be tied into the mains to provide extra pump capacity.

Fire was also a serious threat to the ship.  There are numerous electric fire pumps on board that fed seawater to fire mains.  If steam was lost, these pumps would be useless; therefore, there were two emergency fire pumps powered by emergency diesel generators at opposing ends of the ship.  The first photo shows a typical fire pump.  The second is of an emergency pump room.  Note the intricate plumbing that allowed them to be switched to flooding protection.  There are "fire plugs" all over the ship that are readily identified by their green color.  Besides hoses and regular nozzles, there were also wands that produced an intense fog of water that was useful for moving through corridors and into rooms that were on fire.

The left photo shows one of the "casualty power" stations located around the ship.  These provided a ready supply of high amperage 120 volt d.c. power.  There was a large supply of oxygen and acetylene tanks located on the main deck readily available for cutting and welding tasks.

Shoring timbers and matresses could be used to try to stop the entry of water through holes in the hull.  These were located around the ship, along with varieties of wooden plugs, wedges and mallets that would not only plug smaller holes, but also broken pipes.  The photo on the left shows some of these in a locker along with gas masks.