Commissioning
The USS Massachusetts was the third member of the South Dakota-class of battleships. She was the seventh ship in U.S. Navy history to be named in honor of the state of Massachusetts.
The contract to build the Massachusetts was awarded to the Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Mass., on Dec. 15, 1938. Her keel was laid down on July 20, 1939; she was launched on Sept. 23, 1941. She was commissioned on May 12, 1942, with Capt. Francis Whiting in command.
Underway
On Oct. 24, 1942, the Massachusetts left Portland, Maine for the coast of North Africa to take part in Operation Torch. On Nov. 8, she was in the waters off Casablanca when she was attacked by the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart. She returned fire with her 16-inch guns, marking the first time an American ship had fired their 16-inch guns in the European theater. After disabling the Jean Bart’s main battery, the Massachusetts turned her guns on the French destroyers Fougeux and Boulonnais and the light cruiser Primauguet, sinking all three. She then shelled shore batteries and an ammunition dump, causing serious damage. The Massachusetts was hit twice by 240-mm shells from French shore batteries, but sustained limited damage. On Nov. 12, after the French agreed to a ceasefire, the Massachusetts headed back to the United States in preparations for operations in the Pacific.
After arriving at New Caledonia in early March 1943, the Massachusetts protected convoys operating to and from the Solomon Islands for the next eight months. After escorting a carrier battle group attacking Japanese bases in the Gilbert Islands in late November, she was able to fire her guns in against Japanese positions for the first time on Dec. 8, when she shelled the island of Nauru.
On Jan. 30, 1944, the Massachusetts bombarded the Kwajalein atoll in preparation for the American invasion that followed two days later. She escorted carriers attacking the large Japanese base at Truk on Feb. 17 and defended the carrier task force when it came under heavy Japanese attack on Feb. 21 and 22. She supported the invasion of Caroline Islands in March and bombarded Japanese positions on Hollandia during the April 22 American assault. On May 1, the Massachusetts attacked Ponape Island before heading the Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard at Bremerton, Wash., for an overhaul.
The Massachusetts returned to the Pacific combat zone in mid-October 1944 in time to take part in the invasion of the Philippines. She provided support to diversionary airstrikes against Okinawa and Formosa before taking part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf from Oct. 22-27. During the battle, she would shoot down four Japanese attack planes.
In December, the Massachusetts supported carrier strikes against the Philippine island of Mindoro and Formosa and provided backing for the U.S. invasion of Lingayen. For the first six weeks of 1945, the Massachusetts and Task Force 38 operated in the South China Sea, sinking Japanese ships and conducing air strikes against Formosa and Okinawa. From Feb. 10 to March 3, the Massachusetts provided support to carriers attacking the Japanese home island of Honshu. On March 17, the carriers of her task force assaulted the Japanese island of Kyushu; the Japanese retaliated by sending waves of kamikaze suicide planes against the American fleet and the Massachusetts shot several of them down. On March 24, she bombarded Okinawa in preparation for the American invasion of that island, then spent the next month off Okinawan waters trying to repel large numbers of kamikazes attacking the American fleet.
After the American victory at Okinawa, the Japanese air force and navy was decimated. The Americans, able to operate anywhere in the Pacific allowed their battleships to shell the Japanese mainland. On July 14, the Massachusetts, along with several other battleships, bombarded the Kamaishi Steel Works on Honshu island. She would attack industrial facilities at Hamamatsu before the end of the month, then hit Kamaishi again on Aug. 9, the same day the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It was here that the Massachusetts, who fired the first 16-inch American gun in the European theater, fired the last 16-inch gun salvo of World War II.
Decommissioning
With the surrender of the Japanese on Aug. 15, the Massachusetts immediately headed to Bremerton for an overhaul, arriving on Sept. 1 with 11 battle stars to her credit. With the rapid downsizing of the military after the end of the war, her future was placed in doubt. On March 27, 1947, she was decommissioned, but was not struck from the Naval Vessel Register until June 1, 1962.
In 1965, the battleship was given to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where it would serve as a floating museum. She was enshrined at Battleship Cove at Fall River, Mass., on Aug. 14, 1965. She remains there today.
Characteristics of the USS Massachusetts (Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
Class and type: South Dakota-class (1939) battleship
Displacement: 35,000 tons
Length: 680 feet (210 m)
Beam: 107.8 feet (32.9 m)
Draft: 29.3 feet (8.9 m)
Speed: 27 knots
Complement: 115 officers, 1678 men
Armament: nine 16 inch guns, 20 five-inch guns, 24 40 mm cannon, 16 20 mm cannon, but increased as the war progressed
Career:
Ordered: 15 December 1938
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Company (Fore River Shipyard)
Laid down: 20 July 1939
Launched: 23 September 1941
Commissioned: 12 May 1942
Decommissioned: 27 March 1947
Fate: Museum ship
Timeline:
December 1938: USS Massachusetts ordered
July 1939: Keel of USS Massachusetts laid down
September 1941: USS Massachusetts launched
May 1942: USS Massachusetts commissioned
November 1942: USS Massachusetts disables a French battleship, sinks three other French ships and bombards shore positions during Operation Torch
January 1943: USS Massachusetts bombards Kwajalein
March 1945; USS Massachusetts shells Japanese positions on Okinawa
July 1945: USS Massachusetts bombards Japanese home islands for the first time
March 1947: USS Massachusetts decommissioned
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Massachusetts_(BB-59)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/59a.htm
