Massachusetts

History

Design

The South Dakota-class battleships were the next evolution in battleship design from the previous North Carolina-class. Still designed in the late 1930s, they remained under the limitations imposed by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty and the subsequent 1936 London Naval Treaty. Originally conceived to be more additions to the North Carolina-class ships, it was decided to delay their design by a year in order to implement some solutions to the shortcomings discovered on the preceding “fast-battleship” class.

The South Dakotas were the first “fast-battleship” class of the US Navy to implement sloped armor plating to address the issue of high angle oncoming shells from plunging fire, especially from 406mm shells. Due to the design itself being of an advanced phase already when this decision was made, only the main armor belt — located interior of the ship — was able to be angled inwards by 19 degrees, which stretched from the main deck down to the bottom plates. Moreover, the bottom plate armor and other major longitudinal armor sections were thickened in comparison to the North Carolina-class.

As a consequence of the additional armoring to increase the survivability of the South Dakota-class ships, they had to be made shorter to meet the displacement restrictions of 35,000 tons imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty. Subsequently, whey were roughly 14 meters shorter than their predecessors of the North Carolina class. The design requirements for the South Dakotas still required them to maintain the same top speed of 27 knots as the North Carolinas; more powerful propulsion systems were required and some creative design choices were made in order to fit everything into the more compact hull as a result. The machinery compartments were re-organized in order to squeeze in all of the boilers, turbines, and accompanying evaporating and distilling equipment, as opposed to North Carolina’s more dispersed engineering arrangement. Furthermore, the machinery rooms themselves took up to two deck spaces, as the boilers were placed on a level above the rest of the machinery to allow the propeller shafts — connected to their respective turbines — to run their full length, unhampered. One interesting design feature resulted from the changes: the bottom hull ended well before the stern of the ship, and the two outer propeller shafts formed a “skeg”, or an enclosure, around the inner propeller shafts. This had the added benefit of providing additional protection from torpedo damage.

The superstructure of the South Dakota-class was taller and narrower than previous American battleships. Due to the concentration of propulsion machinery in the midsection, the design required only one funnel as opposed to the usual two, saving some deck space. From the onset the South Dakota-class were designated the role of fleet flagships, therefore a flag bridge was placed above the ship's command bridge in the conning tower specifically for this purpose.

USS Alabama (BB-59), second-to-last of the South Dakota-class battleships, was laid down at Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts on 20 July 1939, launched 23 September 1941, and commissioned on 12 May 1942. She was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the sixth state.

Service

USS Massachusetts, known as "Big Mamie" to her crew members during World War II, whas the distinction of having fired the US Navy's first and last 16-inch (406 mm) shells of of World War II

During World War II Massachusetts was initially assigned to duty in the Atlantic Fleet during which she successfully crippled the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart in a gun duel during Operation Torch. Transferred to the Pacific fleet in 1943, Massachusetts participated in the Solomon Islands campaign and the Philippines Campaign, and in the latter campaign took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In 1945 she was one of several ships assigned to shell targets on Honshū, the largest of the Japanese Home Islands. Following the end of World War II, Massachusetts was involved in routine operations off the US coast and eventually reassigned to the Atlantic fleet. Decommissioned in 1947, she was laid up in the reserve fleet at Portsmouth, Virginia until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1962.

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  USS Massachusetts (BB-59) under construction at Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

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  Massachusetts being launched on September 23, 1941.

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  Massachusetts being refueled at sea.

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  Massachusetts off the coast of Point Wilson, Washington.

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  Massachusetts off Casablanca, 8 November 1942.

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  A large ship resting on the water under a bridge, smaller boats are visible in the foreground along with a ripple effect on the water.

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  Massachusetts refuels two Fletcher-class destroyers, 1944.

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  Massachusetts shelling Kamaishi, Honshū, Japan on 14 July 1945. Outbound projectiles of a full broadside of her 16" guns are visible in upper left of photo.

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  Massachusetts, starboard stern quarter view.

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  Massachusetts in Battleship Cove in 2012.