From JapanProbe we have this wonderful find:

In the twilight months between living in the Philippines and moving to New Orleans, Channel 6 in San Diego showed Star Blazers. I found the notion of reviving a dead battleship for the purposes of traveling to space and defending Earth to be inspiring. I thought little that the ship was borne of Imperial Japan. Living in the Philippines fueled my admiration of all things Japanese. The (retrofit) Yamato is a ship I would draw often in class. It’s a pity I don’t have any of my drawings from that era. Too many moves, too few items kept.

As I think about the idea of recovering the dead Yamato to turn it into a space ship, I’m reminded that only a few years later I read another book about recovering a dead ship, I think it was called “The Ayes of Texas.”

Hah! And in a moment later I have a link: The Ayes of Texas by Daniel da Cruz.

I love the big CCCP on the bow of the ship in opposition. It was published in 1982. I probably read it in that year. The Soviet Union was still very much alive, and still very scary, but we would take them down by upgrading our aging Battleships. This post by Claus Valca referencing the book outlines the plot nicely:

Somehow world events conspire Texas to declare her independence (again), fight the Russians who are invading the US and re-fit the hulk of our locally beloved USS Texas (BB-35) into a high-tech ass-kicking machine again. It’s kinda dated now, but at the time it stirred this young Texan’s heartstrings something special.

That’s a great summary of the book. Thanks Claus!