The centrepiece of the Battleship Cove museum in Fall River, Massachusetts is the USS Massachusetts (BB-59), one of four South Dakota-class battleships designed and built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s and commissioned in 1942. The Massachusetts was the third ship of the class built, following South Dakota and Indiana, and was constructed at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. Laid down on 20 July 1939, Massachusetts was launched on 23 September 1941 and commissioned 12 May the following year. The ship initially served in the Atlantic, supporting the Allied landings in North Africa (Operation Torch) in November 1942 and exchanging fire with the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart on 8 November, during which Massachusetts scored five hits on the French ship, disabling its main battery turret. Transferred to the Pacific Theatre in early 1943, USS Massachusetts participated in campaigns against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands and fought in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. After shelling the largest Japanese home island of Honshu near the end of the war, Massachusetts returned to the United States and took part in routine operations until decommissioned on 27 March 1947. The ship was part of the reserve fleet until 1962 when it was stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry. Following an intensive fundraising campaign by the people of Massachusetts, USS Massachusetts was transferred to Battleship Cove in 1965, becoming the first ship in the museum's collection.
Photos taken 14 August 2014
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| A starboard beam view of the battleship USS Massachusetts, since 1965 moored at Fall River, Massachusetts as the main attraction of the Battleship Cove naval museum. |
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| Looking forward along the starboard side of the USS Massachusetts. The two forward 16-inch turrets can be seen toward the bow, while the five twin-mount 5-inch dual-purpose guns of the starboard battery are staggered amidships. |
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| One of the 38,030 pound bronze-manganese propellers taken off the battleship USS Massachusetts during a 1998-99 drydocking. One of four identical propellers manufactured at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, they drove the 36,000 ton ship at speeds up to 29 knots (53.7 km/h, 33 mph). |
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| The gangway, located at the stern, leading aboard USS Massachusetts. |
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| Looking aft from the bow of USS Massachusetts. The three triple turrets house the 16-inch/45 calibre Mark 6 guns designed by the US Navy in 1936 and first introduced in the North Carolina-class battleships. Each gun weighed 192,310 pounds (87,230 kilograms) and had a barrel length of 60 feet (18 metres). |
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| Looking up at USS Massachusetts's conning tower and signal decks. |
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| Each of the USS Massachusetts's three 16-inch gun turrets house three guns capable of throwing a 2,700 pound (1,225 kilogram) armour-piercing shell 36,900 yards (33.7 km; 21 miles). The rate of fire for each gun was two rounds per minute. |
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| The turret booth inside of one of the 16-inch gun turrets aboard USS Massachusetts. Located behind the gun rooms and powder hoists, this was where operations in the turret were controlled by the turret officer, rangefinder and rangekeeper operators, and telephone talkers. Periscopes inside the turret permitted the turret officer to see outside. |
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| One of the 10 twin-mount 5-inch gun turrets aboard USS Massachusetts. Each 5-inch/38 calibre Mark 12 gun could fire a 53-55 pound (24-25 kilogram) shell to a distance of 9.9 miles (16 km). The rate of fire of each gun was 15 rounds per minute. |
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| A shell fragment from a 2,700 pound armour-piercing shell fired by USS Massachusetts at the French battleship Jean Bart during the Naval Battle of Casablanca, 8 November 1942. The shell, fired from a distance of 12 miles, penetrated 10.5 inches of Jean Bart's armour and decking to detonate in an empty powder magazine. The Naval Battle of Casablanca was USS Massachusetts's first combat engagement. |
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| The USS Massachusetts's bell. |
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| The longest fore and aft passageway running down the centre of USS Massachusetts, on Third Deck. This passageway was nicknamed Broadway because it was always brightly lit and busy. From Broadway, the crew could access all four engine rooms and the 5-inch magazines and 5-inch lower handling rooms. A battle dressing station was also located off Broadway. When the ship went to action stations, the watertight hatches along Broadway would be sealed. |
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| One of the mess decks for enlisted sailors, who slept on racks suspended from the deck overhead. |
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| A wash space for the enlisted men. |
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| The Gedunk, the ship's soda fountain, was open at certain times of day and offered a place for sailors to relax. Given the popularity of soda fountains in grocery stores and pharmacies in the United States, the Gedunk was a popular place and served such classic items as ice cream, ice cream sodas, Coca-cola, and grilled sandwiches. The Gedunk was also the only place aboard the ship where everyone was equal, with both officers and enlisted men visiting and lining up, regardless of rank. |
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| The dental office. |
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| The galley aboard USS Massachusetts. |
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| The Warrant Officers Mess on Second Deck. |
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| Shell hoists for 5-inch ammunition. |
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| The ship's workshop, where damaged parts could be repaired when the ship was at sea. |
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| Engine Room B1 aboard USS Massachusetts. To ensure continued power and propulsion in the event of damage to the Massachusetts, the ship's machinery was divided between four compartments, with each compartment containing two boilers and a turbine set. The boilers were fuelled by 6,700 tons of bunker oil to give Massachusetts its range of 15,000 nautical miles (28,000 km; 17,000 miles) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). |
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| A Second World War-era German Fritz X bomb. These 3,000 pound (1,360 kg) anti-ship guided bombs contained a 705 pound (320 kg) armour-piercing warhead and had a range of 3.1 miles (5 km). The bombs were dropped from aircraft and remotely guided onto their targets by a bombardier using a joystick and radio link. The Germans attacked the Italian battleship Roma with Fritz X bombs on 9 September 1943, sinking her before she could surrender to the Allies following Italy's capitulation. |
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| A scale model of the U.S. Navy Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Saint Paul, part of an exhibit about the ship in an aft compartment aboard USS Massachusetts. Built in Quincy, Massachusetts and commissioned on 17 February 1945, the Saint Paul earned one battle star for service in the Second World War, eight battle stars for service in the Korean War, and another nine battle stars for her Vietnam War service. The ship was decommissioned in 1971 and scrapped in 1980. |
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| The flag plot, located aft of the conning station/pilot house high atop USS Massachusetts. This was the tactical and navigational control space for a flag officer (admiral) when using Massachusetts as a flagship in command of other vessels in a fleet. |
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| The USS Massachusetts's navigators used this space in the Combat Information Centre (CIC) to plot the ship's course and speed. |
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| Part of the ship's Radio Central/Combat Information Centre (CIC). While the CIC was originally located on 04 Level, high up in the ship's conning tower, combat experience in other battleships demonstrated that it was wiser to place this critical facility deep inside the vessel, protected by the armoured second deck. The CIC was the clearinghouse for tactical information coming into the ship and it was also from here that the status of Massachusetts's combat systems were monitored. When assigned to direct Combat Air Patrols from aircraft carriers in the fleet, a fighter direction officer would work in the CIC. During the Second World War, it was determined that the best CIC personnel were those with civilian management experience. |
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| On the starboard side of the main deck, looking forward from the aft 16-inch turret. |
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| A view of the vessels of Battleship Cover naval museum. Left to right: USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.; USS Lionfish; German Navy corvette Hiddensee; and USS Massachusetts. |
Displacement: 38,580 tons (standard) / 45,233 tons (full load)
Length (overall): 210 metres (680 feet)
Beam: 32.97 metres (108 feet 2 inches)
Draught: 10.69 metres (35 feet 1 inch)
Propulsion: Eight Babcock and Wilcox boilers producing 130,000 shaft horsepower to power four General Electric steam turbines
Speed: 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph)
Range: 15,000 nautical miles (28,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Armament: 9 x 16-inch (406 mm) guns; 20 x 5-inch (127 mm) dual-purpose guns in twin mountings; 7 x quad 40 mm (1.6 inch) anti-aircraft guns; 35 x single 20 mm (0.8 inch) anti-aircraft guns
Armour: 12.2 inches (310 mm) belt; 6 inches (152 mm) deck; 18 inches (457.2 mm) turrets
Aircraft: 3 x Kingfisher floatplanes launched from two catapults
Complement: 1,793 officers and men (peacetime) / 2,500 officers and men (wartime)
