Explore the USS Massachusetts with us at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA
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00:00Welcome back for part 2 of going around the cove, if you don't know what I'm talking about,
00:25go to part 1 and we'll see.
00:27So today we're going to explore BB-59, also known as the USS Massachusetts, which is a
00:36floating gun platform that was ready for World War II wartime action.
00:42Come along with us and see what we can see, and here's my friend to tell you all about
00:51it.
00:52A member of the South Dakota class, the USS Massachusetts is 680 feet long overall, has
00:57a beam of 108 feet 2 inches and a draft of 35 feet 1 inch.
01:03She displaced 37,970 long tons as designed and up to 44,519 long tons at full combat
01:11load.
01:12The ship was powered by 4 general electric steam turbines, each driving one propeller
01:16shaft using steam provided by 8 oil fired Babcock and Wilcox boilers.
01:22Rated at 130,000 shaft horsepower, the turbines were intended to give a top speed of 27 and
01:28a half knots.
01:30The ship had a cruising range of 15,000 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots.
01:35Big Mamie, as it was nicknamed, carried three Vought OS-2U Kingfisher floatplanes for aerial
01:40reconnaissance which were launched by a pair of aircraft catapults on her fantail.
01:45Her peacetime crew numbered 1,793 officers and enlisted men, but during the war the crew
01:50swelled to 2,500 officers and enlisted.
01:54The ship was armed with a main battery of 9 16-inch .45 caliber Mark VI guns and three
01:59triple gun turrets on the centerline, two of which were placed in a superfiring pair
02:03forward with the third aft.
02:06The secondary battery consisted of 25-inch .38 caliber dual-purpose guns mounted in twin
02:11turrets clustered amid ships totaling five turrets on either side.
02:16The USS Massachusetts was equipped with an anti-aircraft battery that included quadruple
02:2040mm Bofors guns and 20mm Erlikon autocannon instead of the standard point, 5 caliber guns.
02:28The main armored belt was 12.2 inches thick while the main armored deck was up to 6 inches
02:33thick.
02:34The main battery gun turrets had 18-inch thick faces and they were mounted atop barbettes
02:38that were 17.3 inches thick.
02:42The conning tower had 16-inch thick sides.
02:45Battleship Massachusetts was built in Quincy, Massachusetts at the Four Rivers Shipyard
02:49of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
02:52The ship was launched on September 23, 1941 and holds the record as the heaviest ship
02:57ever launched in Quincy.
03:00Big Mamie, as her crew knew her, was delivered to the Boston Navy Yard in April 1942 and
03:05commissioned the following month.
03:08Following her shakedown period, Battleship Massachusetts went into action on November
03:118, 1942 as part of Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.
03:17While cruising off the city of Casablanca, Morocco, the battleship engaged in a gun duel
03:22with the unfinished French battleship Jean Bart that was moored at a Casablanca pier.
03:27In this battle, USS Massachusetts fired the first American 16-inch projectile in anger
03:32of World War II.
03:34Five hits from Big Mamie silenced the enemy battleship.
03:38Another 16-inch shells from Battleship Massachusetts helped sink two destroyers, two merchant ships,
03:43a floating dry dock, and heavily damaged buildings and docks in Casablanca.
03:48The ship returned to Boston for refitting and resupply and in February 1943 went through
03:53the Panama Canal to join the action in the Pacific where she would remain for the remainder
03:57of her three and a half years of active service.
04:00Assigned to the southwest Pacific, the battleship saw action in the New Guinea Solomons area
04:05and participated in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, the invasion of
04:10the Marshall Islands in January 1944, the powerful carrier strikes against truck in
04:15February 1944, and a series of raids against Japanese bases in the western Pacific and
04:20Asia.
04:22Following a bombardment of Ponope Island in May 1944, Battleship Massachusetts returned
04:27to Bremerton, Washington for modernization and a well-deserved rest for her crew.
04:32In September 1944, the ship returned to action in the invasion of Palau Islands and acted
04:37as an escort for the fast carrier task forces using her 5-inch 40mm and 20mm guns to defend
04:43the carriers against enemy aircraft.
04:46Big Mamie's 16-inch guns pounded Iwo Jima and Okinawa before those islands were invaded
04:51in 1945 and by July of that year she was off Japan with the 3rd Fleet.
04:57The battleship bombarded the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Kamaishi and then sailed
05:02south to bombard a factory at Hamamatsu.
05:05Returning to Kamaishi, Battleship Massachusetts fired the last 16-inch projectile of the war.
05:11With peace achieved, Big Mamie returned to the United States and operated with the Pacific
05:16Fleet until mid-1946 when she was ordered deactivated.
05:20The battleship remained in the Reserve Fleet in Norfolk, Virginia until she was stricken
05:24in 1962 from the Navy Register and ordered sold for scrap.
05:29However, her wartime crew had held annual reunions since 1945 and lobbied to save their
05:34ship as a memorial.
05:36With the assistance of Massachusetts school children, they raised enough money to bring
05:40Big Mamie to Fall River in June 1965.
05:44She was opened to the public two months later.
05:47Now the centerpiece of Fall River's revitalized waterfront and one of the five National Historic
05:51Landmark ships at Battleship Cove, Big Mamie with her guns trained for and aft in the posture
05:57of peace, stands ready to welcome visitors from around the nation and across the world
06:01as she has for more than a quarter century.
06:27And so much more.
06:29Just take a load of this.
06:47During the Battle of Casablanca, they were hit by a heated shell that went into the crew quarters.
06:57The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:00The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:01The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:02The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:03The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:04The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:05The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:06The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:07The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:08The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:09The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:10The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:11The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:12The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:13The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:14The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:15The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:16The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:17The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:18The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:19The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:20The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:21The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:22The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:23The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:24The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:25The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:26The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:27The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:28The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:29The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:30The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:31The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:32The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:33The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:34The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:35The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:36The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:37The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:38The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:39The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:40The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:41The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:42The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:43The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:44The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:45The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:46The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:47The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:48The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:49The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:50The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:51The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:52The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
07:53The crew members were forced to evacuate the ship.
08:22We all thought being in the 5-inch gun system was really cool because each 5-inch gun system
08:29consisted of a twin gun mount and two handling rooms that were below deck.
08:37Now inside were the men, machinery, gunpowder, and projectiles required to fire the shot.
09:00And of course down we go again into the awesome engine room.
09:07It was spectacular.
09:18If you haven't figured out already, this is a huge ship.
09:22We just kept walking and walking and climbing and climbing going down ladders until we got
09:29to the lowest part of the ship as you can see and then we started climbing up.
09:39It was a fantastic adventure.
09:46Thank you for coming along with us on our tour of the USS Battleship Massachusetts.
09:56But I can tell you the video does not do it justice.
10:00If you have a chance to tour this beauty, I highly suggest you do.
10:09And also we look forward to seeing you on our next adventures.
10:14And as always, have a great day.