The proud Texan navy

[dragon]

According to the big logo on the side they belong to the highway patrol. Favorite part 35 ft long, 300 horsepower, bullet proof plating and 6 machine guns each.

Texas is getting its own navy.

Next month, the state's Department of Public Safety will deploy the first of a fleet of six gunboats on the Rio Grande, the river that forms the border between the state and Mexico, CNN affiliate WFAA-TV reports.

The 34-foot-long boats, each powered by three, 300-horsepower outboard engines, will have bulletproof plating and six machine guns apiece, not unlike the river patrol boats the U.S. Navy used during the Vietnam War.

The vessels will be able to operate in as little as 2 feet of water, according to the report, and will work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to combat drug smuggling coming across the Rio Grande.

"They're finding out when those people are coming across, and one of the things they need to be able to do is interdict them on the water," Texas state Rep. Paul Workman told CNN affiliate KVUE-TV when the first of the boats, the JD Davis, was christened in December.

"If you're trying to suppress organized smuggling activity, there's no substitute for putting people on the ground," Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven C. McCraw said at the December ceremony. "The way they're operating right now, you need them on the water as well."

"It sends a message: Don't mess with Texas," Jose Rodriguez, a regional commander of the Texas Department of Safety, told WFAA.

The six boats will be named after Texas state troopers killed in the line of duty. The first was named after Jerry Don Davis, who was shot and killed in 1980. Another, to be commissioned Thursday in Austin, will be named in honor of trooper David Irvine Rucker, who was killed in 1981, according to The Brownsville Herald.

link

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

This is already mentioned in the Wyoming aircraft carrier thread, and like I said there, its not that crazy. I'm actually surprised they didn't already have something like this.

[CJvR]

If they are really, really concerned about illegal immigration why not do something that might actually work - like crucify anyone caught employing an illegal? Kill the market (well much of it at least) and you can stop with futile things like fences, border patrols and gunboats.

[Slacker]

The NYPD already sports a small force for keeping New York Harbor patrolled. Can't say I'm shocked or surprised.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

If they are really, really concerned about illegal immigration why not do something that might actually work - like crucify anyone caught employing an illegal? Kill the market (well much of it at least) and you can stop with futile things like fences, border patrols and gunboats.

This isn't aimed at illegal immigration, its aimed at heavily armed drug cartels, a whole different problem.

[Mr Bean]

Calling these things gunboats is a little generous, these are speed boats with LMG's and armored plating tacked on. Just about one step above a technical. They have done better to trade in four of those machine guns for an extra two boats. These things are not going to get into running gun battles with the VC after all. A dual turret of .50s forward is all you really need, a pair of singles to the sides from the pilot house at most and your set.

[JME2]

Ah, but Texas already has a navy -- or rather, had one back during the Mexican War days. One of the ships iscurrently underneath a parking lot in Galveston.

[Sea Skimmer]

Not only had a navy, the Republic of Texas Navy is perhaps the only navy to ever defeat a enemy force that included steamers with a completely sail force in a regular battle on the high seas at Campeche. Course the Mexicans were fairly incompetent.