- Absolutely, I think she should be added at some point
- Probably, I don’t think we need her 100% but it would be nice
- Maybe we could see her in the game
- Im not so sure about adding her to the game
- Unsure
- I don’t think we need Massachusetts added to the game
- Her as built configuration
- Her late 1942 refit
- Her early 1943 refit
- Her late 1943 refit
- Her first 1944 refit
- Her second 1944 refit
- Her 1945 refit
- Her post war 1947 refit
- Unsure
- Any will work
- I said no to the first question
Background
USS Massachusetts (BB-59) otherwise known as Big Mamie was one of the four South Dakota class battleship, being the third ship of the class to enter service during the second world war and Massachusetts herself is quite an interesting ship due to her service history as something that is fairly interesting is that for a US battleship like many would see most of the Second World War in the pacific Massachusetts holds a unique distinction of being a battleship whose crew suffered no casualties in combat throughout the entire war.
As is standard for the South Dakota class Massachusetts came with a primary armament of 9 16-inch/45 Mk 6 guns in 3 turrets with 2 in a super firing position at the front of the ship while the third turret was located at the rear of the ship, her secondary battery consisted of 20 5-inch/38 dual purpose guns in 10 twin turrets which was more than that of South Dakota since Indiana, Massachusetts, and Alabama were not built as fleet flagships unlike South Dakota which is why South Dakota had a weaker secondary battery, finally Massachusetts AA battery was strong than that of her older sisters i.e. South Dakota and Indiana since US ships were being armed with more and more anti aircraft guns as the war went on and as such Massachusetts had a initial anti aircraft battery consisting of 24 40mm Bofors in 6 quad mounts backed up by 35 20mm Oerlikon anti aircraft cannons in single mounts when she complete in 1942 however of course her anti aircraft armament would be expanded with more and more guns and by the end of the war she had at total of 72 40mm Bofors in 18 quad mounts and 37 20mm Oerlikons in 1 quad, 1 twin, and 31 single mounts though post war she saw the removal of all the 20mm guns.
History
Spoiler
Massachusetts was laid down on July 20th, 1939 at Bethlehem Steel’s Fore River Shipyard, she was launched on September 23rd, 1941 and was commissioned on May 12th, 1942. Her first operation would occur soon after she completed sea trails as she sailed for Casco Bay, Maine where she assigned to the Western Naval Task Force and from their she deployed not to the Pacific but in fact to the Mediterranean where she served as flagship for operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa and upon join the formation became the flagship of TG 34.1 and during the battle of Casablanca which saw her engage the incomplete French battleship Jean Bart which returned fire with her 1 quad 15 inch gun turret that had been installed on her by that point and Massachusetts would end up landing a hit on Jean Bart that disabled the turret and from their she along with her escort proceeded to deal with the other French naval forces during the battle and following this 3 days later the French forces called for a cease fire and the next day saw Massachusetts detached from TG 34.1 so she could head back to the United States for a refit in preparation in entering the pacific theater.
After reaching the pacific theater Massachusetts spent her first several months on convoy escort duty during the Solomon island campaign in 1943 starting in march and on June 30th she provided shore bombardment during operation cartwheel against New Georgia as apart of TF 36 along with her sister Indiana and one of her predecessor North Carolina and during the operation a number of Japanese air attacks would take place against US forces however this would generally be the beginning of where Massachusetts luck really began to show as during this no Japanese planes actually attacked her. By November Massachusetts found herself being moved along with the other 2 battleship to take part of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign during which she escorted the carriers of TG 50.2 and would cover them as they made a number of air attacks before Detaching from the force in early December where the three battleships joined her sister South Dakota and North Carolina’s sister, Washington along with 7 destroyers and by January, 1944 she was transferred to TG 58.1 where she once again settled into providing escort for the carriers against Japanese air attacks and by the end of the month she joined both North Carolina and Washington again where they provided shore bombardment against Kwajalein prior to the troops landing.
Following the bombardment she went back to her usual role as carrier escort which she served in through all of Operation Hailstone, now apart of TG 58.3 and once again Japanese forces responded with more air attacks however once again proved her effectiveness and in April the fleet supported the landing at Hollandia in western New Guinea and after heading the back the fleet decided to attack Truk, then on May 1st she joined TG 58.7 which was a bombardment force and during which they bombarded Pohnpei in the Senyavin Islands before withdrawing from the area to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands and following this Massachusetts was detached from the formation and then proceed to head back to the United States in order to undergo a overhaul.
Following her overhaul she returned to the frontline duty as she was assigned to TG 38.3 would be assigned with escorting carriers once more throughout late August and into early September in preparation of the landings at Morotai and Peleliu which saw the carriers strike a number of Japanese airfield that would be able to interfere with the landings and following this she and by October the US fleet was making preparations for the invasion of the Philippines with Massachusetts continuing to escort the carries of TG 38.3 as they made a number of strikes which included Okinawa and Taiwan before returning to the invasion fleet and it was during this the task group under heavy air attack however once again she was not attacked during the attacks though this time it was more due to the fact the Japanese forces were concentrated on TG 38.1 and TG 38.4 and by October 16th it was learned that a force of Japanese cruisers and destroyers were sent out to destroy the damaged vessels that were left over from the attack prompting TG 38.2 and TG 38.3 to head back north to find and destroy the enemy vessels however they were never found and as such they returned to port at Amami Ōshima.
Following the day of the elements of the task groups of TF 38 they then proceed to rejoin the carrier task force as the 6th army had begun their landings in the Philippines and as such she continued to escort the carriers and as such during Operation Shō-Gō 1 she was sent along with the carrier task force which headed North after the northern decoy force and following this and the realization the Northern force being a decoy they missed the Japanese center force and after the Japanese forces disengaged the fleet withdrew to Ulithi to replenish fuel and ammunition and fowling this she continued her carrier escort role now as apart of TG 38.1 and as such after the a strike on Manila in mid December the forces of TF 38 were caught in Typhoon cobra however if not due to her being a battleship she did not take any significant damage from the typhoon with the most damage being the loss of her 2 float planes and 1 crew member being injured.
By February of 1945 Massachusetts was reassigned to TG 58.1 and during the final year of the war she found herself mostly assigned to carrier escort as the kamikaze threat intensified however even then she found herself very safe as she found herself not heavily engaged and continued as well with shore bombardment as in March she joined Indiana, New Jersey, and Wisconsin of TF 59 for providing shore bombardment against Okinawa before returning to provide carrier escort during the campaign and so her luck stayed strong as she continued to be ignored by Japanese forces as even Japanese suicided craft did not target her and in late May she rejoined TF 38 as apart of TG 38.1 and in June she found herself caught in another typhoon however this did not inflict any serious damage once again and by July the carriers had begun to target the Japanese mainland and by mid July she was detached from TF 38 to form TG 34.8.1 along with Indiana, South Dakota, two heavy cruisers and nine destroyers which saw the task group attack Japanese targets along the coast and once the war finally ended Massachusetts was sent back to the United States for a overhaul which lasted until 1946 and following this she sailed to San Francisco after leaving Puget Sound before making her way through the Panama Canal and headed up to Hampton Roads, Virginia in late April and by March 27th, 1947 she was decommissioned and place in reserve at Norfolk and was assigned to the Atlantic reserve fleet. Unlike the older standard battleships she along with her sisters were kept around incase of the need to bring them back into service with plans being made to modernize her and her sisters if needed with 1954 seeing a purposed to have her receive 3-inch secondary guns though this would have probably just updated her AA battery however this was never pursued, some time between 1956 to 1957 a plan arose to plan to convert the ship into a guided missile battleship however the cost was to high and about after 15 years in the reserve fleet she was stricken from the Naval register on June 1st, 1962 and during her time there she had various pieces of equipment removed from her including her catapults however her fate would not be that of the scrap yard as luck stayed on her side.
Massachusetts was saved thanks to her former crew with a group of them lobbied to have the battleship preserved as a museum ship and the Massachusetts Memorial Committee successfully raised enough money to purchase the vessel from the Navy, including through a donation campaign for children in the state and in 1965 the Navy handed her over to the state and 2 months later was moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, at Battleship Cove where she was anchored in battleship cove with Battleship cove actually containing a number of preserved vessels including the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the submarine Lionfish, the former East German corvette Hiddensee, a pair of PT boats, and numerous other exhibits. With the reactivation of the Iowa class in the 1980’s and the need for parts that were no longer manufactured the US Navy canalized parts from her, her other surviving and preserved sister Alabama, and North Carolina to bring them back into service and following this in 1986 Massachusetts was declared a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 14th and since then she had undergone at least 1 overhaul and remains in Battleship cove to this day.
Specification
Displacement:
Standard: 37,970 long tons (38,580 t)
Full load: 44,519 long tons (45,233 t)
Length: 680 ft (210 m) o/a
Beam: 108 ft 2 in (32.97 m)
Draft: 35 ft 1 in (10.69 m)
Installed power:
130,000 shp (97,000 kW)
8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Propulsion:
4 × General Electric steam turbines
4 × screw propellers
Speed: 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph)
Range: 15,000 nmi (28,000 km; 17,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:
1,793 (peacetime) to 2,500 (wartime)
Armament:
As built
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
24 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (6 x 4)
35 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (35 x 1)
Late 1942
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
40 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (10 x 4)
48 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (48 x 1)
Early 1943
Primary Armament:
9 × 16-inch/45 (406 mm) Mk 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5-inch/38 (127 mm) Mk 12 DP guns in Mk 28 mod 0 mounts (10 x 2)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
48 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (12 x 4)
61 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (61 x 1)
Late 1943
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
48 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (12 x 4)
43 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (43 x 1)
Late 1944 (V1)
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
48 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (12 x 4)
32 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (26 x 1 + 1 x 2 + 1 x 4)
Late 1944 (V2)
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
72 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (18 x 4)
38 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (32 x 1 + 1 x 2 + 1 x 4)
1945
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
72 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (18 x 4)
37 × 20-mm/70 Oerlikon cannons (31 x 1 + 1 x 2 + 1 x 4)
1947 (Post war)
Primary Armament:
9 × 16 inch/45 (406 mm) Mark 6 guns (3 x 3)
(According to a source that seems to apply from 1941 to 1944 that the class had 404 rounds total for turrets 1 and 3 while turret 2 had up to 525 rounds total; 1,333 rounds total however the count from the source was updated in 1944)
Dual purpose armament:
20 × 5 inch/38 (127 mm) Mark 12 DP guns (10 x 2 Mk 28 mod 0 mounts)
(9,000 rounds total; 450 rounds per gun)
Anti Aircraft Armament:
72 × 40-mm/56 Bofors cannons (18 x 4)
Armor:
Belt: 12.2 in (310 mm)
Deck: 6 in (152 mm)
Turrets: 18 in (457.2 mm)
Barbettes: 17.3 in (440 mm)
Conning tower: 16 in
Sources
Spoiler
USS Massachusetts (BB-59) - Wikipedia
South Dakota-class battleship (1939) - Wikipedia
https://www.battleshipcove.org/uss-massachusetts-bb59
SOUTH DAKOTA battleships (1942)
Image Sources