In 1836 when Texas proclaimed its Independence from Mexico, the small nation was immediately faced with invasion, on land and sea by overwhelming forces from Mexico---a power having many times the population and naval and military resources of the infant Republic of Texas. The Army of Texas finally triumphed over its larger and much better equipped foe at San Jacinto but historians now agree that one of the most important elements in that great victory was the brief but furious maritime activity of the first Texas Navy.
The story of the hardship and savage fighting of those small fleets of battered ships and intrepid seamen was largely forgotten until the third Texas Navy was established as a commemorative organization by Governor Price Daniel in 1958.
The headquarters of the third Texas Navy was returned to its original base at Galveston by Governor Preston Smith in January 1970. A move designed to assure the survival of Texas' Naval history, boundaries, water resources and civil defense of Texas are banded together in the third Texas Navy to help preserve the memory of the sea-bourne valor of those who helped create the Lone Star State
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