VirtualGlobetrotting: United States: Brownsville

VirtualGlobetrotting Live View

'Ocean America' oil rig
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
Read more...
Odyssey class semi-submersible.
Picture

USS Constellation (CV-64) being scrapped
Dania (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Dania.
Read more...
at Brownsville Yard.
Only visible in Google Earth history layer: Just click the clock.

Naval ships being scrapped
Hinkkanen (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Hinkkanen.
Read more...
Shipbreaking firms at Brownsville, Texas, break up old naval vessels with mostly cheap Mexican workforce, more info here.

ENSCO 67 Jack-up oil rig
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
This area is a ship breaking yad so I assume it is about to be scrapped. Not how it is jacked WAY up in the air though.
DESIGN: Marathon LeTourneaun, Class 84 Slot Type.
CONSTRUCTION: Marathon LeToureau, Clydebank, Scotland,1976.
PERFORMANCE: Water depth-380'; Drilling depth-30,000'.
QUARTERS: 72 persons.
VARIABLE LOAD: 7,574,000 lb.
HELIPORT: 70.5' diameter, S-61.
STORAGE: Mud & Cmt Bulk-6.240cf; Liquid Mud-1,605 bbl; Fuel-5,290 bbl; Water for Drilling-10,539 bbl; Potable Water-1,294 bbl.
DRILLING EQUIPMENT: Drawworks-Nat'l 1625 UE, 2,000 hp; Pumps-two Nat'l 12-P-160 Triplex; Prime movers-three EMD 16-645E-8, 2,200 hp each; Top Drive-TDS-4H.
DERRICK: 160' X30' T-leg; 1,000,000-lb hook load.
BOP SYSTEM: Hydril MSP 21 1/4", 2 K ; Shaffer 13 5/8", 5K; CIW 13 5/8", 10K single & dbl.
CRANES: Three LeTourneau PCM-120 AS.
REMARKS: Formerly Penrod 67 and ENCO 01; zero discharge.
WORK AREA: Mexico and Gulf of Mexico.

USS Saratoga (CV-60) being scrapped
Dania (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Dania.
at Brownsville Yard.
Only visible in Google Earth history layer: Just click the clock.

Ship being broken up for scrap
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.

Scrapping USS John Rodgers (DD-983)
USS John Rodgers (DD-983), a Spruance-class destroyer.
John Rodgers was laid down on August 12, 1976 by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss. and commissioned on September 4, 1979.
On September 16, 1983 while operating off Lebanon, John Rodgers fired her guns against Syrian controlled portions of Lebanon in response to Syrian shelling near the residence of the U.S. ambassador. This made her the first ship to use the Mk 86 Gun Fire Control System in combat.
John Rodgers made eight major deployments, including extensive operations in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and the Persian Gulf. She also took part in numerous counter drug operations in the Caribbean Sea. She and her crew participated in Operations Desert Shield, Support Democracy, and Sharp Guard.
John Rodgers was decommissioned and stricken on September 4, 1998; she was stored at NISMF Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awaiting sale for scrap. By 2005 she had been sold to International Shipbreaking Limited of Brownsville, Texas although scrapping work had yet to be completed. On December 29, 2005, John Rodgers (DD-983) was spotted heading south along the east coast of south Florida under tow. She has since been broken up for scrap.

Heavy Cruiser USS Des Moines (CA-134)
The second USS Des Moines (CA-134) was the lead ship of the Des Moines-class heavy cruisers in the United States Navy.
Des Moines was launched 27 September 1946 by Bethlehem Steel Company, Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts.
After decommissioning in 1961 she was mothballed in the South Boston Naval Annex and eventually laid up in the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Philadelphia, where she remained until 2006. After an attempt to turn her into a museum ship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, failed, she was towed to Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping, and arrived there 7 September. By July 2007, she had been completely broken up.

Tug Pushing an Old Ship
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.
International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC

USS Vincennes (CG-49) being dismantled
The USS Vincennes (CG-49) was a Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided missile cruiser in service with the United States Navy from July 1985 to June 2005. Decommissioned in 2005, Vincennes was sold for scrapping to International Shipbreaking in July 2010, and finished scrapping by the end of November 2011.
Vincennes is best known for shooting down an Iranian civilian passenger jetliner, Iran Air Flight 655, over the Persian Gulf on 3 July 1988, killing all 290 civilians on board (including 38 non-Iranians and 66 children), sparking an international incident between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America.
On 9 July 2010, a contract to scrap Vincennes was issued to International Shipbreaking, Brownsville, Tx. On 21 November 2010, Vincennes arrived via the Panama Canal to International Shipbreaking in Brownsville, Texas, and was completely scrapped by 23 November 2011.

CS-50 Plattform "Moss Sirius" (Sea-based X-band Radar)
Rene73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Rene73.

Elon Musk's House
jdubble07 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jdubble07.
Elon Musk is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; angel investor, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI.
According to public records and his voter registration, Musk lives here. This home, as well as almost all surrounding homes, are owned by his Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.

Enrique Valenzuela's house
Champion3 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Champion3.
Enrique Valenzuela Jr. owns Bigo's, a chain of restaurants throughout south Texas and Mexico.

Diamond Offshore's 'Ocean Spartan' jack-up rig

Brownsville Cemetery
jbottero (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jbottero.
Resting place of actor Charles Bronson.

Downtown Castle Rock Oregon in the movie Stand by Me filming location
Fab (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Fab.

Alejandro Villarreal's house
Champion3 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Champion3.
Alejandro Villarreal is an attorney.

Gladys Porter Zoo
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

Submarine being scrapped
WacoKidd110 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: WacoKidd110.
At International Shipbreaking Limited

Catalina PBY Fueselage
Pdunn (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Pdunn.

Oil platform

Battle of Palmito Ranch - last battle of the Civil War
The Battle of Palmito Ranch, also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill and the Battle of Palmeto Ranch, was fought on May 12 – May 13, 1865, during the American Civil War. The battle was fought on the banks of the Rio Grande about twelve miles east of Brownsville, Texas. In the kaleidoscope of events following the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army on April 9, Palmito Ranch was nearly ignored. It was the last major clash of arms in the war.

SpaceX South Texas launch site
Fab (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Fab.

Nasbro stone lime kilns
milwhcky (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: milwhcky.
These five lime kilns are all that remain of an abandoned mill town that existed here from the 1920's until the 1970's. In addition to the mill, the town had about a dozen homes, a store, and perhaps a tavern. The town was named Nasbro, after the Nast brothers who owned the mill. These kilns may have been built in the 1870's, when lime production was first established here.

Ocean Valiant oil rig on giant drydock

Castle Rock Oregon in the movie Stand by Me filming location
Fab (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Fab.

Classic Rolls Royces near PBY
Pdunn (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Pdunn.
There's a third vintage RR out of frame to the front of the PBY. The hangar is labled with a large CAF, leading me to believe it is part of the Confederate Air Force's restoration efforts.

SpaceX Starbase Production Site
jdubble07 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jdubble07.
Starbase is a spaceport, production, and development facility for Starship rockets, located at Boca Chica, Texas. It is in construction in the late 2010s and 2020s by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer.

Sleek Fouga Magister
Pdunn (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Pdunn.
Anyone know what species it is?

Two oil rigs

Wingless Catalina PBY with British markings

Truck accident
milwhcky (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: milwhcky.
A pickup truck crossed the median of US highway 41 and stopped in an oncoming lane. Fortunately, there is no apparent evidence of a big collision.

Miguel Fernandez Hide Yard
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.
Opened by a Spanish immigrant, the Miguel Fernandez Hide Yard processed cattle by-products for local ranchers. The architecture is typical of late 19th century Rio Grande Valley commercial buildings.

Billy Tripp's MindField
“The Mindfield” is the creation and life’s work of Brownsville artist Billy Tripp. The structure was begun in 1989 and will continue to evolve until Billy’s death, at which point it will become the site of his interment. Included in the network of steel are individual pieces representing various events and periods of Billy’s life, especially the death of his father, Rev. Charles Tripp, in 2002. The latest addition, a water tower salvaged from a defunct factory in Western Kentucky, was dismantled, transported to Brownsville, and reconstructed single-handedly by the artist. It now stands as a memorial to Billy’s parents as well as a testimonial to his current life, his belief in the inherent beauty of our world, and the importance of tolerance in our communities and governmental systems.
Billy’s book, The Mindfield Years, is a further representation of his life told through the voices of three main characters and their efforts to find meaning, purpose, and contentment in the existence to which they were born. Written in stream of consciousness style, the novel contains elements of short story, poetry, philosophy, and psychology intermingled into a multi-layered yet deceptively simple tale. Billy is currently at work on volume two of this series, his “Goodbye.”

'Kraigher House' by Richard Neutra
pmoore66 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: pmoore66.

Wing With British Insignia in Texas

Oil platform being scrapped

La Nueva Libertad
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.
Don Andres Cueto, like many other merchants in Brownsville, immigrated from Spain. Most likely he was headed to Matamoros, but the chaos created from constant revolution led many to settle on the relatively stable north side of the river. Cueto’s first store was catty-corner, and simply named ‘Libertad.’ In 1893, he moved the store and renamed it the ‘new’ Libertad, or ‘La Nueva Libertad.’ Inside was a grocer, pawn shop and bakery.

Fort Brown
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.
Fort Brown was instrumental in precipitating the Mexican War. The fort also played a role in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and protected Brownsville from bandit raids at the turn-of-the century.

Mammoth Cave National Park

Immaculate Conception Church
This Gothic Revival church, built by the Oblates of Mary in 1856, has 38 stained glass windows, a burial vault containing the remains of members of the Celaya family, and a rectory that was used as a refuge for priests fleeing Mexican revolutions.

Vickers 757 Viscount

Launching Site of First U.S. Army Warplane
WacoKidd110 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: WacoKidd110.
Marker Text:
From Old Fort Brown Cavalry Drill Field, near this spot, was made the first flight of a U.S. Army plane to be fired upon in armed hostilities, April 20, 1915. Two Signal Corps officers, Lts. Byron Q. Jones and Thos. Milling, flew a Martin T.O. Curtiss 75 on the border to spot movements of Mexican revolutionist Pancho Villa. They reached 2,600 feet; were up 20 minutes. Though they did not cross the Rio Grande, the plane was hit by machine gun and small arms fire. Their patrols lasted 6 weeks. Planes were used more effectively in fighting against Villa in 1916.

Rowan EXL III jck-up oil platform

Cameron County Courthouse
The second Cameron County Courthouse, a simple Beaux-Arts building with four identical facades, was designed in 1912 by San Antonio architect Atlee B. Myers. Rather plain from the outside, inside is a distinctive (and beautiful) stained glass dome.

Border Patrol Agents on patrol in Texas
mikeb9991 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mikeb9991.

Charles Stillman House

SpaceX Launch Facility
jdubble07 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: jdubble07.
This is the primary launch facility of SpaceX Starbase. This site includes an orbital launch pad, a suborbital launch pad, and a landing facility.

Three Classic Transports

US and Texas flags flying
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

Painted water tower
WacoKidd110 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: WacoKidd110.

Horicon National Wildlife Refuge

Tractor
koho56 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: koho56.

Giant Chairs

Welcome Bienvenidos to Sabal Palm Sanctuary
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

Resaca de la Palma Battlefield
Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

Ascutney Outdoors
Matheus_ (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Matheus_.

Lafferty Field
FAA: 9OR0

Vickers Viscount N382S
pak555 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: pak555.