USS Massachusetts (BB-2)

Massachusetts in 1901
History
United States
Name:	Massachusetts
Namesake:	State of Massachusetts
Ordered:	30 June 1890
Builder:	William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co.
Laid down:	25 June 1891
Launched:	10 June 1893
Sponsored by:	Leila Herbert
Commissioned:	10 June 1896 2 May 1910 9 June 1917
Decommissioned:	8 January 1906 23 May 1914 31 March 1919
Renamed:	Coast Battleship Number 2, 29 March 1919
Struck:	22 November 1920
Identification:	Hull symbol: BB-2
Fate:	Artillery target; artificial reef
General characteristics
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 (6.7 MW) (design) 4 double ended Scotch boilers later replaced by 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Propulsion:	Two vertical inverted triple expansion reciprocating steam engines 2 shafts
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) (design)
Range:	4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi)
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 removed 1908 12 × single 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns added 1910 20 × single 6-pounder guns 6 × single 1 pounder guns 4 × Whitehead torpedo tubes
Armor:	Harveyized steel* Belt: 18–8.5 in (460–220 mm) 13" turrets: 15 in (380 mm) Hull: 5 in (130 mm) Conventional nickel-steel Tower: 10 in (250 mm) 8" turrets: 6 in (150 mm) Deck: 3 in (76 mm)
USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve #4
Location	Escambia County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Pensacola, Florida
Coordinates	Coordinates: 30°17′49″N 87°18′41″W / 30.29694°N 87.31139°W / 30.29694; -87.31139
Area	less than one acre
NRHP Reference #	01000528
FUAP #	4
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	31 May 2001
Designated FUAP	10 June 1993

USS Massachusetts (BB-2) was an Indiana-class battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of the time. 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 (1898) 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 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 so that her name could be reused for USS Massachusetts (BB-54). In 1921 she was scuttled in shallow water off the coast of Pensacola, Florida and then used as a target for experimental artillery. The ship 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 is included in the National Register of Historic Places. It serves as an artificial reef and diving spot.