USS Massachusetts, Battleship museum in Fall River, Massachusetts, United States
The USS Massachusetts is a South Dakota-class battleship 680 feet (210 m) long with a beam of 108 feet (33 m). Its main battery is nine 16-inch guns in three triple turrets, two forward and one aft; twenty 5-inch guns sit in twin mounts amidships. The dark hull, blocky superstructure and tall radar mast are visible from the pier.
Built at Bethlehem Steel in Quincy, Massachusetts, and commissioned on 12 May 1942, the USS Massachusetts fought the incomplete French battleship Jean Bart at Casablanca in November 1942. She earned eleven battle stars in the Pacific and fired the last 16-inch salvo of World War II while bombarding Kamaishi on 9 August 1945. Saved from scrapping, she opened at Battleship Cove on 14 August 1965.
This warship serves as the official memorial for Massachusetts residents who died in World War II and displays exhibits about naval service during the war years. Veterans organizations regularly use the ship for commemorative events and educational programs that teach naval history and honor wartime sacrifices made by service members and their families.
The ship is moored at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, alongside the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and the submarine USS Lionfish. Visitors move between decks via steep ladders and narrow passageways, so sturdy shoes help. The site lies near the Taunton River waterfront, a short drive from Interstate 195.
The ship's 16-inch guns fired the last such salvo of World War II, during the bombardment of Kamaishi on 9 August 1945. The crew nicknamed the battleship "Big Mamie". In the 1980s the Navy took fittings and parts from her to reactivate the Iowa-class battleships.
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