The USS Massachusetts Free Essay Example

On September 23, 1941, the USS Massachusetts (BB-59) was launched off of her dry dock in Quincy, Massachusetts. The heaviest ship to ever launch from Quincy, Massachusetts was the third of four massive South Dakota class battleships. She, like all her sister ships, displaced 35,000 tons and carried a total of nine 16-inch (406 mm) main battery guns in three turrets, her one of the most powerful capital ships to be produced under the conventions laid down in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 (which stipulated that capital ships could not exceed neither a 35,000 ton displacement limit nor a 16-inch gun caliber limit). She carried an equally impressive secondary battery composed of twenty 5-inch (127 mm) guns and eighteen powerful quad 40 mm Bofor anti-aircraft guns. The ship could reach a speed of 27 knots (31.1 mph), which also made her one of the faster battleships produced by the United States. She had an operational range of over 15,000 nautical miles, and carried three catapult launched reconnaissance aircraft. Reaching 680 feet in length and 108 feet in width, the ship could house a crew of 2500 sailors during times of war (“USS Massachusetts (BB-59)”).

After initial sea trials, Massachusetts was commissioned in May 1942 and immediately entered her shakedown period (an extended voyage that certifies that a ship and her crew are ready for service). Almost immediately after this period was over, she entered her service in World War II, joining the naval task force supporting the invasion of Casablanca, Morocco, during Operation Torch in North Africa. On November 8th, 1942, the Massachusetts engaged targets protecting Casablanca, making her the first American battleship to ever fire 16-inch guns in anger. By the end of the day, she had fired over 700 such shells, bombarding both surface and shore targets  (“USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59)”). She sank the French battleship Jean Bart, two French destroyers, two French mercantile ships, and the city’s floating dry dock, while also damaging or destroying various on shore batteries, facilities, and docks. After the end of Operation Torch, Massachusetts returned to Boston to resupply. As the allies decided to limit American capital ship involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic, she set sail for the Panama Canal in February 1943, and joined the Pacific fleet for the rest of the war (“USS Massachusetts (BB-59)”). While there, she participated in the invasions of the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands, and carried out additional strikes against the Caroline Islands and Ponape Island. She then returned to the United States for modernization, resupply, and shore leave in May 1944 (“USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59)”). Returning to the fight in September, Massachusetts acted as a carrier escort during the invasion of the Palau Islands, shooting down aircraft and discouraging the approach of Japanese surface ships. She then took part in shore bombardments at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and had arrived off the coast of Japan by July of 1945. While there, she destroyed an ironworks facility at Kamaishi and a factory at Hamamatsu, firing the last 16-inch projectiles of the war. Relegated to the reserves in 1946, Massachusetts continued to act as a training ship until 1962, when the Navy struck her from its records and sold her to a scrap company. However, her wartime crew, assisted by schools around Massachusetts, managed to raise enough money to buy her off of the scrap company. She was permanently docked in Fall River, Massachusetts, where she has since served as a public museum ship (“USS Massachusetts (BB-59)”). Over the course of her career, she earned 11 battle stars, sank 5 enemy surface vessels, and shot down 39 aircraft (“USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59)”). 

When the USS Massachusetts was first launched in late 1941, she was one of the most powerful and advanced ships in the United States Navy. She was one of the pinnacle achievements of the dreadnought battleship era, bearing the largest guns ever mounted on a US battleship. Only one other class of battleship, the Iowa class, was ever built to improve upon the design of the South Dakota class. The Massachusetts and her sister ships were technological marvels. Heavily armed and reasonably quick, the ships were more heavily armored and reliable than the North Carolina class that preceded them. The Massachusetts herself holds many firsts, distinguishing honors, and records, including being both the first and last American vessel to fire a 16-inch shell (commonly regarded as the most powerful projectile a surface ship could fire at the time) during World War II. However, the four ships also served during the end of the age of the battleship, and quickly were relegated to reserve fleet after war’s end. The war in the Pacific clearly demonstrated the power and superiority of fleets based around aircraft carriers, which also fit the image of the American military’s “new look” better as the nation entered the Cold War. Flexibility, operational range, and the ability to carry nuclear weapons became more important than large guns and heavy armor. 

The USS Massachusetts, and other battleships like her, serve as a powerful reminder of the pace at which technology develops and doctrine changes. She remained on active duty for only five years, and was sold for scrap within 20 years of her commissioning. At the outbreak of the war, she was the Navy’s latest and greatest capital ship, a technological marvel, and an important centerpiece of naval strategy and doctrine. Despite her distinguished career and service, she became redundant during the shift to carrier doctrine, and by August 1945, the South Dakota class battleships had been deemed powerful but obsolete. Even their successors, the Iowa class, only performed shore battery duties during the Korean War, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Despite their powerful guns and awe-inspiring size, the battleship quickly became an unnecessary and expensive part of the fleet, a relic of a bygone age. Congress authorized the spending of billions building 66 battleships from 1890 to 1943, many of which remained unfinished as the evolution of technology outpaced dockyard workers. While none of this diminishes the accomplishments of these ships or their crews, military strategists and budget planners should take note as military technology continues to advance in the future.    

Works Cited

“USS Massachusetts (BB-59)” Battleship Cove, 2021, 

https://www.battleshipcove.org/uss-massachusetts-bb59. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022. 

“USS MASSACHUSETTS (BB-59)” Historic Naval Ships Association, 14 May 2014, 

https://www.hnsa.org/hnsa-ships/uss-massachusetts-bb-59/. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.