USS Massachusetts BB-59
History of the USS Massachusetts Battleship
The USS Massachusetts (BB-59), nicknamed “Big Mamie,” was ordered for the U.S. Navy on December 15, 1938. Her keel was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in Massachusetts on July 20, 1939. She was launched on September 23, 1941 and commissioned on May 12, 1942 under the command of Captain Francis E. M. Whiting.
The first combat action that the USS Massachusetts saw was as the flagship for Admiral H. Kent Hewitt of the Western Naval Task Force for the invasion of North Africa in October 1942. While supporting Operation Torch, she returned fire from the French battleship Jean Bart, firing the U.S.’s first 16-inch shells against Axis Powers in Europe. She disabled the Jean Bart’s main battery and sank two destroyers than joined the exchange. USS Massachusetts received only superficial damage when hit by two shells.
USS Massachusetts headed to the South Pacific in 1943. During the spring and summer months, she supported operations in the Solomon Islands. In November and December, the battleship supported the strikes on Makin, Tarawa, Abemama, Nauru and Tarawa.
Early in 1944, the USS Massachusetts bombarded Kwajalein and covered the troop landings there. She took part in the assault on Truk before supporting efforts in Saipan, Tinian, Guam, the Caroline Islands and Hollandia. She bombarded Ponape Island on May 1 before heading to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington for overhaul.
The USS Massachusetts returned to Pacific action to support the troop landings in Leyte Gulf on October 6, 1944. She participated in the strikes at Okinawa and Formosa before engaging in the Battle for Leyte Gulf. The battleship struck at Manila in December before supporting the invasion of Mindoro.
On December 17, 1944, USS Massachusetts survived Typhoon Cobra, although three destroyers in her group did not. Through the end of 1944 and the beginning of the next year, the battleship supported the strike at Formosa and the landing at Lingayen, destroyed shipping from Saigon to Hong Kong in the South China Sea and supported the air strikes on Formosa and Okinawa.
USS Massachusetts covered the carriers during the raid on Honshu from February to March 1945. She supported the invasion of Iwo Jima, Kyushu and Okinawa before riding out another typhoon in June. The battleship then bombarded Minami Daito Jima in the Ryukyu Islands before joining the Third Fleet’s final offensive against Japan. She bombarded Kamaishi and Hamamatsu, firing what was considered to be the last 16-inch shell fired in World War II combat.
The USS Massachusetts earned 11 battle stars for her service in World War II. No U.S. Navy sailors or Marines were killed in action aboard the battleship during the war.
After the war was over, USS Massachusetts was overhauled at Washington’s Puget Sound Naval Shipyard before being decommissioned on March 27, 1947. She was removed from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1, 1962. Although the battleship was slated to be sold for scrap, the people of Massachusetts raised enough money to have her transferred to the Massachusetts Memorial Committee. She is now a museum ship at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
Sources include:
John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed, “Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences,” Ulster Med. J. 77(3):191-200 (Sep 2008)
Naval Historical Center, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships – USS Massachusetts