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USS ''Massachusetts'' (BB-59), known as "Big Mamie" to her crewmembers during World War II, was a battleship of the second ''South Dakota'' class. She was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the sixth state, and one of two ships of her class (along with her sister ) to be donated for use as a museum ship. ''Massachusetts'' has the distinction of having fired the US Navy's first and last 16-in (406 mm) shells of the war. During World War II ''Massachusetts'' was initially assigned to duty in the Atlantic Fleet during which she successfully crippled the Vichy French battleship in a gun duel during Operation Torch. Transferred to the Pacific fleet in 1943, ''Massachusetts'' participated in the Solomon Islands campaign and the Philippines Campaign, and in the latter campaign took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In 1945 she was one of several ships assigned to shell targets on Honshū, the largest of the Japanese Home Islands. Following the end of World War II, ''Massachusetts'' was involved in routine operations off the US coast and eventually reassigned to the Atlantic fleet. Decommissioned in 1947, she was laid up in the reserve fleet at Norfolk, Virginia until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1962. In an effort to spare the battleship from scrapping, citizens of Massachusetts pooled resources to raise money for her transfer to the ''Massachusetts'' Memorial Committee, and in 1965 the Navy formally donated the battleship to the committee. ''Massachusetts'' was towed to Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts, and formally opened as a museum ship on 14 August 1965. ==Construction== (詳細は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 /45 caliber Mark 6 guns in three triple turrets (two superfiring turrets forward, the third turret mounted aft of the main superstructure) that were capable of firing armor-piercing (AP) Mark 8 shells. Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5"/38 caliber guns, which could hit targets up to 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Massachusetts (BB-59)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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