The U.S.S. Texas, commissioned in 1914, was the last American battleship built with coal-fired boilers. By 1927, it had been converted to burn fuel oil – with a dramatic improvement in efficiency. The revolutionary change from coal to oil-fired boilers at sea is another chapter in the story of petroleum.

Today, the historic battleship Texas is a floating museum in LaPorte, Texas. Its engines are a National Historic Engineering Landmark. Preserved as a memorial near the San Jacinto Battlefield, the Texas served in both world wars

When the industrial revolution ended the “age of sail,” coal that fired the boilers of steam-powered ships became a strategic resource. Worldwide “coaling stations” were essential at a time when oil was little more than a crude lubricant or patent medicine. In 1866, Congress appropriated $5,000 to evaluate petroleum as a potential replacement for coal to fire the Navy’s boilers.

The “experts” decided to stay with coal.

“The conclusion arrived at was that convenience, health, comfort and safety were against the use of petroleum in steam-vessels,” reported Admiral George Henry Preble. “The only advantage shown was a not very important reduction in the bulk and weight of fuel carried.”

However, the Spanish-American War of 1898 changed the Navy’s mind about using coal for fuel. For the first time, coal-fired U.S. war vessels had to fight far from continental shores. Despite victories in Manila Bay in the Philippines and Santiago de Cuba, hard strategic lessons were learned.

A coal-powered battleship steaming at full speed could burn up to 10 tons of coal every hour -- producing dense smoke and tons of ash.

Coal-fired boilers not only produced dense smoke, they created tons of ash. Sailors (with ratings of coal heaver and later, coal passer) labored with shovels to feed massive boilers. Range limitations and resupply needs made coaling stations critical. When the Spanish fleet successfully ran the American blockade of Santiago, four American ships were absent…re-coaling 45 miles away.

“Coaling ship” was a major undertaking. “Our ship held about 2,000 tons of the stuff,” recalled a coal passer from the battleship U.S.S. Connecticut in 1907. “All the deckhands would go down into the collier and fill these big bags with about 500 pounds. Then they’d hoist ‘em over to us down in the coal bunkers and we’d spread out the coal with shovels until all the bunkers – about 20 – were full to the top.”

With lessons learned from the Spanish-American War experience, fuel oil began to replace coal in U.S. warships. Petroleum supplies became more abundant within America’s borders in the early 1900s as Texas’ Spindletop and other major discoveries emerged.

Importantly, oil produced far more energy per pound than coal and vastly simplified the logistics of resupply. The use of oil-fired boilers changed battleship design dramatically and contributed to the development of massive new battleships.

Prior to the conversion to oil, the ship’s first job when reaching port was taking on coal. Sailors shoveled 2,891 tons of coal to fill the Texas’ coal bunkers. While at sea, at least twice a day word was passed to "hoist ashes" – and the crew hauled tons of ash topside...and overboard.

On July 2, 1910, as the Navy converted from coal to oil-burning ships, President William Howard Taft established three Naval Petroleum Reserves.

Concerns about an assured oil supply in the event of war or a national emergency had resulted in the Pickett Act of 1910, which authorized the president to withdraw large areas of potential oil-bearing lands in California and Wyoming as sources of fuel for the Navy. Within 15 years, the properties that made up the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves included three petroleum reserves and three oil shale Reserves. A Naval Petroleum Reserve Number Four, on the north slope of Alaska, was added in 1923.

“As not only the largest owner of oil lands, but as a prospective large consumer of oil by reason of the increasing use of fuel oil by the Navy, the federal government is directly concerned both in encouraging rational development and at the same time insuring the longest possible life to the oil supply.” — Message to Congress by President Taft

By 1916, the Navy had commissioned its first two capital ships with oil-fired boilers, the U.S.S. Nevada and the U.S.S. Oklahoma. To resupply them, “oilers” were designed to transfer fuel while at anchor, although underway replenishment was possible in fair seas.

During World War I, a single oiler refueled 34 destroyers in the mid-Atlantic — introducing a new era in maritime logistics. The sailors’ rating of “coal passer” passed into history by 1917.

See the U.S. Dapertment of Energy’s Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves — 90 Years of Ensuring National Security (DOE 2000). Learn more about efforts to preserve the U.S.S. Texas, which in 1948 became the first battleship memorial museum in the United States.