Construction
Massachusetts was one of four fast battleships of the South Dakota class to be authorized for construction by the United States Congress in 1938. Her keel was laid down on 20 July 1939 at the Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 23 September 1941 sponsored by Mrs. Charles Francis Adams, wife of a former Secretary of the Navy. She was commissioned on 12 May 1942 at Boston, Massachusetts, Captain Francis E. M. Whiting in command.
Massachusetts's main battery consisted of nine 16 in (410 mm)/45 caliber Mark 6 guns in three triple turrets (three in a superfiring turret forward, the third turret mounted aft of the main superstructure) that were capable of firing 2,700-pound (1,200 kg) armor-piercing (AP) Mark 8 shells. Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5"/38 caliber guns, which could hit targets up to 9 miles (14 km) away. For defense against air strikes, Massachusetts was fitted with an anti-aircraft (AA) battery of 0.50 cal machine guns and 1.1"/75 caliber guns. With a wholesale shift to air power at the dawn of World War II came the imperative to gain and maintain air superiority in order to protect the growing fleet of Allied aircraft carriers. By the end of the war Massachusetts sported an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and quadruple Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns.
Read more about this topic: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)
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