National Battleship Registry
USS Massachusettes BB-2
Alternate Names: Coastal Battleship 2
History
USS Massachusettes
- 03/27/1898, Massachusettes is ordered to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to join the Flying Squadron
Spanish American War:
- 05/29/1898, Massachusettes, along with the Flying Squadron, descovers Admiral Cervera's squadron in Santiago de Cuba and began a blockade of the Harbor.
- 07/03/1898, On the night of 2 July - 3 July 1898 Massachusettes, along with the crusiers New Orleans and Newark, departed the blockade to take on coal in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Massachusettes would thus miss the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. Returning the next day, 4 July 1898, Massachusettes and USS Texas would fire on the disarmed Spanish crusier Reina Mercedes, which was being scuttled by the Spanish in an attempt to block the entrance to the harbor.
Post Spanish American War:
- 01/1903, Massachusettes suffers and explosion in one of her 8-inch guns turrets, killing 9 sailors, the first deaths aboard a U.S battleship since the sinking of USS Maine.
- 12/1904, Massachusettes again suffers fatalities when a broken gasket causes steam to fill a boiler room, killing 3 and wounding several.
Service History
Commissionings
| Commissioned | Decommissioned | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1896-06-10 | 1906-01-08 | First Commissioning |
| 1910-05-02 | 1914-05-23 | Second Commissioning |
| 1917-06-09 | 1919-03-31 | Third Commissioning |
Specifications
Overview
- Class
- Indiana-Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship
- Builder
- William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania
- Keel Laid
- 1891-06-25
- Launch Date
- 1893-06-10
- Displacement
- 10.453 Tons
- Speed
- 15 Knots
- Power Plant
- 4 x Fire Tube Boilers, 2 x Triple-Expansion Engines, 2 x Screws
- Armor
- Belt Armor: 18in - 8.5in, Turret Armor (Main Guns): 15in, Barbette Armor (Main Guns): 17in, Turret Armor (8" Sec Guns): 6in, Barbette Armor (8" Sec Guns): 8in, Sec Gun Armor (6" Guns): 5in, Deck Armor: 3in, Conning Tower Armor: 10in, Bulkhead Armor: 14in, Extended Armor: 4in, Hull Armor (Between Main Belt & Deck): 5in
- Final Disposition
- Scuttled off Pensacola Bar, Florida, 1 January, 1921, and used as a target for coastal batteries and railway artillery.
Weapons
Armament
- Primary
- 4 x 13"/35 Caliber Guns (2x2)
- Secondary
- 8 x 8"/35 Caliber Guns (2x4), 4 x 6"/40 Caliber Guns (4x1)
- Tertiary
- 20 x 6-Pounder (57mm) Guns (20x1), 6 x 1-Pounder (37mm) Guns (6x1)
- Additional
- 6 x 18" Torpedo Tubes
Registry Tags
Tags
Battleship