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USS Massachusetts Battleship
The ship is a floating museum in Fall River, Massachusetts. This is the ship that Tom Dougherty Sr. served on as a "plank member" on the first crew after it was commissioned. Tom flew a Kingfisher float plane, and flew the recon flight that started her first conflict in action off the coast of Casablanca. Tom was shot down and became the unofficial "first POW of WWII."

Battleship Massachusetts was built in Quincy, Massachusetts 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 her crew knew her, was delivered to the Boston Navy Yard in April 1942 and commissioned the following month. Following her shakedown period Battleship Massachusetts went into action on November 8, 1942 as part of Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. While cruising off the city of Casablanca, Morocco, the Battleship engaged in a gun duel with the unfinished French battleship Jean Bart, moored at a Casablanca pier. In this battle, Massachusetts fired the first American 16" projectile in anger of World War II. Five hits from Big Mamie silenced the enemy battleship, and other 16" shells from Battleship Massachusetts helped sink two destroyers, two merchant ships, a floating dry-dock, and heavily damaged buildings and docks in Casablanca.

Visited by me, my mother and father on December 27, 2004
(Only Dad and I actually took the inside tour)

The USS Massachusetts in her final berth. The Destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
A Balao-class submarine, USS Lionfish was first captained by Lcdr. Edward D. Spruance, son of the famous World War II admiral, Raymond Spruance. After completing her shakedown cruise off of New England, she headed to the Pacific and commenced her first war patrol in Japanese waters on 1 April 1945. Ten days later, she dodged two torpedoes fired at her by a Japanese submarine and on 1 May destroyed a Japanese schooner with her deck guns. After a rendezvous with the submarine Ray, she transported B-29 survivors to Saipan and then made her way to Midway Island for replenishment. The impressive bow of the Battleship USS Massachusetts.
The USS Lionfish submarine on left, and on the right is the Hiddensee. Originally commissioned by the East German People's Navy as the Rudolf Eglehofer, the Hiddensee is a Tarantul I class corvette built at the Petrovsky Shipyard, located near the Soviet city of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). The world's only exhibited example of a Soviet-built missile corvette, Hiddensee was designed to oppose any naval threat to the East German Coast, and to fulfill this mission carried long-range STYX anti-ship missiles and an array of defensive weapons designed to ensure her own survivability.

The forward 16" guns of the Battleship USS Massachusetts. The 16/45 triple turrets were built into the USS North Carolina and Washington as well as the South Dakota-class battleships. With the exception of the 16/50 guns of the Iowa-class battleships, they contained the largest guns used in US Navy history. While the guns were the same in the North Carolina and South Dakota class battleships, the turret armor in the latter was thicker.

On USS Massachusetts (BB59), three 16", 45 caliber guns are mounted in each turret. Each gun is mounted in a separate sleeve called a "slide." On firing, each gun recoiled four feet in its slide. Each slide has a pair of "trunnion" pivots which allow each gun to elevate independent of the other two guns.

The USS Lionfish. In the background, you can see the twin launch cannisters of the Russian-built Hiddensee's Russian-made STYX surface-to-surface missiles. Iran still manufactures a modernized version that they bought from China, known as the Silkworm, which currently threatens the Strait of Hormuz at the narrow entrance to the Persion Gulf. A 40mm anti-aircraft gun on the rear of the PT 617, an Elco (Naval Division of Electric Boat Company) PT boat nicknamed "Dragon Lady"
A twin-barreled M2 Browning .50-caliber gun mount on the front of PT 617. A 40mm anti-aircraft gun on the rear of PT 796, a Higgins boat nicknamed "Tail Ender." She did not see service in World War II, but was assigned to a Navy ordnance testing station in Panama City, Florida, where she was actively used to develop specialized equipment for Vietnam river patrols.
Close-up of the 40mm anti-aircraft gun on the rear of PT 796. The rear 16" guns of the Battleship USS Massachusetts. That's my Dad on the right.
Twin 40mm guns on the USS Massachusetts. The rear 16" guns of USS Massachusetts.
Mess Hall museum exhibit, lower deck of the USS Massachusetts. Shrapnel damage on the starboard side of USS Massachusetts from the Casablanca battle.
The original bell of the USS Massachusetts. Yep, there's Tom Dougherty's name on the crew list.
The plaque that precedes the name of her crew members. A section of the ship hit by coastal fire during the Casablanca Battle.
A section of the ship hit by coastal fire during the Casablanca Battle. A WWII-era photo of a Kingfisher plane like the one that Tom Dougherty flew.
The explanation of the above-left photo of the shell damage to the hull of the ship.
Looking forward towards the bow. The superstructure.
The Hiddensee and the Lionfish, with the Fall River Bridge in the background. 40mm Gun Stations and larger 5" guns above on the USS Massachusetts.
 

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