BATTLESHIP MASSACHUSETTS

Battleship Massachusetts was built in Quincy, MA at the Fore River Shipyard of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. the ship was launched on September 23, 1941 and holds the record as the heaviest ship ever launched in Quincy. "Big Mamie," as she became known to her crew, was delivered to the Boston Navy Yard in April 1942 and commissioned the following month.

Following her shakedown (training) period Battleship Massachusetts went into action on November 8,1942 in Operation Torch, the Invasion of North Africa. Cruising off the city of Casablanca, Morocco, the Battleship engaged in a  gun duel with the unfinished French battleship Jean Bart which was at a Casablanca pier. In this battle, Massachusetts fired the first American 16" projectile in anger during World War II. Five hits from Big Mamie silenced the enemy battleship, and other 16" shells from Battleship Massachusetts sank two destroyers, two merchant ships, a floating dry-dock, and heavily damaged buildings and docks in Casablanca.

The ship returned to Boston for refitting and resupply and in February 1943 went through the Panama Canal for action in the Pacific, where she would remain for the remainder of her 3-1/2 years of active service. First assigned to the Southwest Pacific the Battleship saw action in the New Guinea-Solomons area and participated in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, the invasion of the Marshall Islands in January 1944, the powerful carrier strikes against Truk in February 1944, and a series of raids against Japanese bases in the Western pacific and Asia. In May 1944, following a bombardment of Ponape Island, Battleship Massachusetts returned to Bremerton, Washington for modernization and a well-deserved rest for her crew.

In September 1944 the ship returned to action in the invasion of Palau Islands and acted as an escort for the fast carrier task forces, using her 5", 40MM, and 20MM guns to defend the carriers against enemy aircraft. Between November 1943 and August 1945, Battleship Massachusetts would be credited with the destruction of 18 enemy aircraft.

Big Mamie's 16" guns pounded Iwo Jima and Okinawa before those islands were invaded in 1945, and by July of that year she was off to Japan with the Third Fleet. The Battleship bombarded the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Kamaisi, and then sailed south to bombard a factory at Hamamatsu. Returning to Kamaisi, Battleship Massachusetts fired the last American 16" projectile of the war.

With peace achieved, Big Mamie returned to the United States and operated with the Pacific Fleet until mid-1946, when she was ordered deactivated. The battleship remained in the Reserve Fleet in Norfolk, VA until 1962, when she was stricken from the navy Register and ordered sold for scrap. however, her wartime crew had held annual reunions since 1945 and decided to save their ship as a memorial. Banding together to raise money and find a site willing to accept a 35,000 ton battleship, they brought Big Mamie to Fall River in June 1965, and the ship opened to the public two months later.

Today, Battleship Massachusetts is home to the official memorials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Bay State Citizens who gave their lives in World War II and the Persian Gulf War. The ship has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service "for its significant in commemorating the history of the United States of America."

USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY JR. DD 850

USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, JR. was named for the late President John F. Kennedy's older brother, a Naval Aviator who was killed in the explosion of his bomber in August 1944. USS KENNEDY was built at the Fore River Shipyard of the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, MA and commissioned in December 1945. Robert F. Kennedy, brother of Joseph, served aboard DD-850 at one time as a radarman.

USS JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, JR. represents the only example of the Gearing class of American destroyers, the largest type of destroyer built by the United States in World War II, on display anywhere. She served with the Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets following her commissioning, and served during the Korean War in shore bombardment and as a screening ship for aircraft carriers launching strikes against the Communist positions. During the blockade of Cuba in October 1962, because of the Russian missile crisis, USS KENNEDY stopped a Soviet-chartered ship and a boarding party inspected her cargo to ensure she wasn't carrying any missile parts. DD-850 also served as a recovery support ship in the Mercury and Gemini space programs.

The KENNEDY was modified twice under the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) program. These modifications included improved electronics and a novel antisubmarine suite including launchers for wire-guided torpedoes, a drone helicopter to attack submarines at a distance, and an ASROC launcher which could attack submarines out to distances of six miles with a homing torpedo or a nuclear depth charge. The ship was also modified to provide protection against nuclear blast effects.

On display at Battleship Cove since 1974, USS KENNEDY is a National Historic Landmark and home to the official memorials of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Bay State service members who gave their lives in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

USS LIONFISH SS 298

USS LIONFISH was built at the Cramp Shipbuilding Corporation in Philadelphia and commissioned in November 1944 at Portsmouth, NH with Edward Spruance, son of Admiral Raymond Spruance, in command. Ordered immediately to Pearl Harbor, she entered Japanese waters on April 1, 1945. With targets few and far between, LIONFISH assisted in the rescue of B-29 crewmembers whose aircraft had gone down after raids over Japan. LIONFISH also bagged a 100-ton schooner in a surface gun action. In her second war patrol, under the command of Bricker Ganyard, LIONFISH fired torpedoes at a surface I-class Japanese submarine and recorded both explosions and breaking up noises.

Decommissioned after the war in January 1946, LIONFISH was recommissioned in January 1951 for Korean War service. Deactivated a second time in 1953, LIONFISH became a reserve training submarine in Providence, RI in 1960. In 1974 LIONFISH was placed on loan to the USS MASSACHUSETTS MEMORIAL COMMITTEE for display at Battleship Cove.

LIONFISH typifies the fleet submarines of the US Navy in World War II. She is for the most part in her World War II configuration although she lacks the 5" deck gun that was part of her armament at that time.