USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

USS ''Massachusetts'' (BB-59) is the third of four fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, they took advantage of an escalator clause that allowed increasing the main battery to guns, but refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of . A requirement to be armored against the same caliber of guns as they carried, combined with the displacement restriction, resulted in cramped ships, a problem that was exacerbated by wartime modifications that considerably strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and significantly increased their crews.

On completion, ''Massachusetts'' was sent to support Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, in November 1942. There, she engaged in an artillery duel with the incomplete French battleship and neutralized her. ''Massachusetts'' thereafter transferred to the Pacific War for operations against Japan; she spent the war primarily as an escort for the fast carrier task force to protect the aircraft carriers from surface and air attacks. In this capacity, she took part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in 1943 and early 1944 and the Philippines campaign in late 1944 and early 1945. Later in 1945, the ship supported Allied forces during the Battle of Okinawa and thereafter participated in attacks on Japan, including bombarding industrial targets on Honshu in July and August.

After the war, ''Massachusetts'' returned to the United States and was decommissioned and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Norfolk in 1947. She remained out of service until 1962, when she was stricken from the ''Naval Vessel Register''. Three years later, she was transferred to the Massachusetts Memorial Committee and preserved as a museum ship at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. Some material was removed in the 1980s to reactivate the s, but the ship otherwise remains in her wartime configuration.

Design

The was ordered in the context of global naval rearmament during the breakdown of the Washington treaty system that had controlled battleships construction during the 1920s and early 1930s. Under the Washington and London treaties, so-called treaty battleships were limited to a standard displacement of and a main battery of guns. In 1936, following Japan's decision to abandon the treaty system, the United States Navy decided to invoke the "escalator clause" in the Second London treaty that allowed displacements to rise to and armament to increase to guns. Congressional objections to increasing the size of the new ships forced the design staff to keep displacement as close to 35,000 LT as possible while incorporating the larger guns and armor sufficient to defeat guns of the same caliber.

''Massachusetts'' is long overall and has a beam of and a draft of . She displaces as designed and up to at full combat load. The ship was powered by four General Electric steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Rated at , the turbines were intended to give a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . She carried three Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes for aerial reconnaissance, which were launched by a pair of aircraft catapults on her fantail. Her peace time crew numbered 1,793 officers and enlisted men, but during the war the crew swelled to 2,500 officers and enlisted.

The ship is armed with a main battery of nine 16"/45 caliber Mark 6 guns guns in three triple-gun turrets on the centerline, two of which are placed in a superfiring pair forward, with the third aft. The secondary battery consisted of twenty 5-inch /38 caliber dual purpose guns mounted in twin turrets clustered amidships, five turrets on either side. As designed, the ship was equipped with an anti-aircraft battery of twelve guns and twelve .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, but she was completed with a battery of six quadruple Bofors guns in place of the 1.1 in guns and thirty-five Oerlikon autocannon instead of the .50-cal. guns.

The main armored belt is thick, while the main armored deck is up to thick. The main battery gun turrets have thick faces, and they were mounted atop barbettes that were thick. The conning tower had thick sides.

Modifications

''Massachusetts'' received a series of modifications through her wartime career, consisting primarily of additions to anti-aircraft battery and various types of radar sets. The first addition was the installation of SC air search radar in 1941, fitted in the foremast, which was later replaced with an SK type set. At the same time, an SG surface search radar was installed on the forward superstructure; a second SG set was added to the main mast after experiences during the Guadalcanal Campaign in 1942. While still under construction, she received a Mark 8 fire-control radar, mounted on her conning tower to assist in the direction of her main battery guns and Mark 4 radars for the secondary battery guns. She later received Mark 12/22 sets in place of the Mark 4s. ''Massachusetts'' also received a TDY jammer. In 1945, her traditional spotting scopes were replaced with Mark 27 microwave radar sets.

The ship's light anti-aircraft battery was gradually expanded. Four more 40 mm quad mounts were added in late 1942, and in February 1943, two more quads were added, one each to the roofs of turrets 2 and 3. By this time, she had another twenty-four 20 mm guns installed, bringing the total to sixty-one of the guns. Two more 40 mm quadruple mounts were added in February, and another seven 20 mm guns were added later that year for a total battery of sixty barrels. By early 1944, the Navy had begun to realize that the 20 mm guns were less effective and had made plans to reduce the number of those guns to 33 barrels in favor of more 40 mm guns. By October, ''Massachusetts'' had thirty-two of the guns, six of which were in experimental quad and twin mounts. She received six more quadruple 40 mm guns, bringing the total to seventy-two barrels. Two of these new quads were mounted in the forecastle, which proved to be of limited use as they were unusable in all but the calmest seas, and they were removed in the ship's postwar refit, as was the mount atop the number 2 turret.

Service history

Construction and Atlantic operations

''Massachusetts'' was laid down at Bethlehem Steel's Fore River Shipyard on 20 July 1939. She was launched on 23 September 1941, and after completing fitting-out work, was commissioned into the fleet on 12 May 1942. She then conducted her shakedown cruise before moving to Casco Bay, Maine; from there, she was assigned to the Western Naval Task Force, which was to support Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. ''Massachusetts'' got underway on 24 October to join the rest of the unit, which she met at sea four days later. She became the flagship of Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt, part of Task Group (TG) 34.1, which also included the heavy cruisers and and four destroyers. The ships rendezvoused with the rest of the invasion fleet on 28 October some southeast of Cape Race and proceeded across the Atlantic.

''Massachusetts'' participated in the Naval Battle of Casablanca, which began early on the morning of 8 November. The ships were tasked with neutralizing the primary French defenses, which included coastal guns on El Hank, several submarines, and the incomplete battleship which lay at anchor in the harbor with only half of its main battery installed. ''Massachusetts'' began firing at 07:04 at a range of and shortly thereafter came under fire from ''Jean Bart'' that morning, and she returned fire at 07:40. ''Wichita'' and ''Tuscaloosa'' initially engaged the French batteries on El Hank and the French submarine pens, while ''Massachusetts'' attacked ''Jean Bart''. French naval forces, led by the cruiser , put up a stubborn defense. ''Massachusetts'' and the American cruisers broke up attempts by French destroyers to attack the fleet before returning to shelling ''Jean Bart''; in the course of the action, ''Massachusetts'' scored five hits on ''Jean Bart'' and disabled her main battery turret.

With ''Jean Bart'' out of action, ''Massachusetts'' and the other ships then shifted fire to destroy coastal artillery batteries, an ammunition dump, and merchant ships in the harbor. One of her 16-inch shells also struck the floating dry-dock that held the submarine ; the dry dock sank, but ''Le Conquérant'' was not damaged and was able to get underway, only to be sunk by a PBY Catalina at sea. The French defenders agreed to a cease-fire on 11 November, which allowed the ships of TG 34.1 to be detached for other operations. ''Massachusetts'' got underway for the United States on 12 November to begin preparations for operations in the Pacific Theater.

Pacific war

Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign

''Massachusetts'' reached Noumea in New Caledonia on 4 March 1943 and spent the next several months escorting convoys to the Solomon Islands in support of operations during the Solomon Islands campaign. On 30 June, she provided cover for an amphibious assault on New Georgia, part of Operation Cartwheel; at the time, she was assigned to the battleship group for TF 36.3, which included her sister ship and . Over the next week, the Japanese launched several naval and aerial attacks on American forces involved in the campaign, but none attacked the battleship force.

She departed the area on 19 November to take part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, escorting the carrier task group TG 50.2, again in company with ''Indiana'' and ''North Carolina'', that carried out a series of air attacks on Makin, Tarawa

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