USS Massachusetts (BB-2)

Massachusetts in 1901
History
United States
Name	Massachusetts
Namesake	Massachusetts
Ordered	30 June 1890
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Laid down	25 June 1891
Launched	10 June 1893
Commissioned	10 June 1896
Decommissioned	8 January 1906
Recommissioned	2 May 1910
Decommissioned	23 May 1914
Recommissioned	9 June 1917
Renamed	Coast Battleship Number 2 29 March 1919
Decommissioned	31 March 1919
Stricken	22 November 1920
Fate	Scuttled, 6 January 1921
General characteristics [1][2][3]
Class and type	Indiana-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	10,288 long tons (10,453 t) standard
Length	350 ft 11 in (107.0 m)
Beam	69 ft 3 in (21.1 m)
Draft	27 ft (8.2 m)
Installed power	9,000 ihp (6,700 kW) (design) 4 × Scotch boilers
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × shafts
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) (design)
Range	4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi)[a]
Complement	473 officers and men
Armament	2 × twin 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns 4 × twin 8 in (203 mm)/35 caliber guns 4 × single 6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber guns 20 × single 6-pounder (57 mm (2.24 in)) guns 6 × single 1-pounder (37 mm (1.46 in)) guns 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes[b]
Armor	Belt: 18–8.5 in (457–216 mm) 13" turrets: 15 in (381 mm) Hull: 5 in (127 mm) 8" turrets: 6 in (152 mm) Conning Tower: 10 in (254 mm) Deck: 3 in (76 mm)
USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Escambia County, Florida, US
Nearest city	Pensacola, Florida, US
Coordinates	30°17′49″N 87°18′41″W / 30.29694°N 87.31139°W / 30.29694; -87.31139
Area	c. 1 acre (0.40 ha)
NRHP reference No.	01000528[4]
FUAP No.	4
Added to NRHP	31 May 2001

USS Massachusetts was an Indiana-class, pre-dreadnought battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of its time.^[5] Authorized in 1890, and commissioned six years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defense and as a result, her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.

Massachusetts served in the Spanish–American War as part of the Flying Squadron and took part in the blockades of Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. She missed the decisive Battle of Santiago de Cuba after steaming to Guantánamo Bay the night before to resupply coal. After the war she served with the North Atlantic Squadron, performing training maneuvers and gunnery practice. During this period she suffered an explosion in an 8-inch (203 mm) gun turret, killing nine, and ran aground twice, requiring several months of repair both times. She was decommissioned in 1906, for modernization.

Although considered obsolete in 1910, the battleship was recommissioned and used for annual cruises for midshipmen during the summers, and otherwise laid up in the reserve fleet, until her decommissioning in 1914. In 1917, she was recommissioned to serve as a training ship for gun crews during World War I. She was decommissioned for the final time in March 1919, under the name Coast Battleship Number 2 in anticipation that her name could be reused for USS Massachusetts (BB-54) (laid down April 1921). In 1921, she was scuttled in shallow water in the Gulf of Mexico, off Pensacola, Florida, and used as a target for experimental artillery. The wreck was never scrapped, and in 1956, it was declared the property of the State of Florida. Since 1993, the wreck has been a Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve and it is included in the National Register of Historic Places. It serves as an artificial reef and diving spot.

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