Battleship Cove is a nonprofit

maritime museum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water. A subcategory of maritime museums are naval museums, which focus on navies and the milita ...

and war memorial in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

, United States. Featuring the world's largest collection of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

naval vessels, it is home to the highly decorated battleship . It is located at the heart of the waterfront at the confluence of the

Taunton River The Taunton River (historically also called the "Taunton Great River"), is a river in southeastern Massachusetts in the United States. It arises from the confluence of the Town River and Matfield River, in the town of Bridgewater. From t ...

and

Mount Hope Bay Mount Hope Bay is a tidal estuary located at the mouth of the Taunton River on the Massachusetts and Rhode Island border. It is an arm of Narragansett Bay. The bay is named after Mount Hope, a small hill located on its western shore in what is ...

and lies partially beneath the

Braga Bridge The Charles M. Braga Jr. Memorial Bridge, also known as the Braga Bridge, is a through truss bridge that carries Interstate 195 over the Taunton River between the town of Somerset and the city of Fall River, near the mouth of the Quequechan Riv ...

and adjacent to Fall River Heritage State Park. The memorial traces its origins to the wartime crew of ''Massachusetts'', who fought to save it from being broken up and ensure its preservation as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

. The battleship forms a small cove which serves as a protected harbor for pleasure craft during the summer months. The Fall River Yacht Club maintains a dock nearby. The site also contains the historic 1920 Lincoln Park Carousel made by the

Philadelphia Toboggan Company Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia ...

, PTC #54, originally located at

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

in nearby North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, restored by local vocational high school students and installed in a new pavilion in the early 1990s. A fairground organ provides the carousel's music. The type of organ is unknown, but it plays

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

150 rolls.

History

Formally registered as the U.S.S. ''Massachusetts'' Memorial Committee, Inc., Battleship Cove was incorporated as a nonprofit educational organization and granted §501(c)(3) status by the Internal Revenue Service in 1964. Led by veterans who had served aboard ''Massachusetts'' during World War II, the group was responsible for the U.S. Navy's donation of the decommissioned vessel and its subsequent public display. In its first year open to the public, more than 250,000 visitors explored the ship. Soon after, the battleship was recognized as the official memorial to Massachusetts citizens who gave their lives in World War II and her interior spaces were reconfigured to accommodate exhibits.

Expansion

In 1972, , a World War II-era

attack submarine An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called ...

, joined the battleship for public display. Also that year, the Nautical Nights overnight camping program commenced as a model program, enrolling more than 500,000 youths to date. The following year, , a , was added to the fleet and immediately designated as the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

’s official memorial to the Korean and

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

s. In keeping with this, USS ''Massachusetts'' was subsequently designated the Commonwealth's official memorial to veterans of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

Soon after the arrival of USS ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'', the Mayor of Fall River christened the site “Battleship Cove”. In 1975 Tin Can Sailors, Inc., a national organization of 24,000 destroyer veterans, was founded at Battleship Cove. In 1984 a

North American T-28 Trojan The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a radial-engine military trainer aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation and used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use as a trainer, ...

was added. This aircraft served as a US trainer, and also served in the VNAF Republic of Vietnam Air Force, reflecting immigrants in the Commonwealth who had served in the Vietnamese armed forces. A new gift shop helped fuel the organization’s growth. In 1985, the Commonwealth awarded a $2.5 million grant for the preservation of ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'', and in that same year the National Park Service designated ''Massachusetts'', ''Lionfish'', and ''PT-796'' as National Historic Landmarks (NHL). Subsequently, both ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'' and ''PT-617'' received NHL status, giving Battleship Cove the highest concentration of such south of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Comprising eight vessels, the Battleship Cove fleet is the largest and most diverse collection of historic naval ships in the world. In the 1990s the organization continued to improve with over sixty new exhibitions related to the historic ships and veterans. The success of the overnight program, high visitation from school groups, and general admissions supported an expanded staff and improved ship maintenance efforts. On June 14, 1997, the Cove acquired a

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

relic: the Soviet-built missile

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

. Three years later, the Commonwealth awarded ''Massachusetts'' and ''Lionfish'' a $10 million grant for significant, dry-dock restoration work. Since 1964, Battleship Cove has hosted more than 5 million youth, veterans, and tourists. As goals for continued success as an educational, historical museum, the Cove is dedicated to expanding and sustaining its outreach with programs like the Battleship Cove Community Boating Program, the

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...

Inspiring Technological Exploration (RITE) Program, and the Veterans’ Voices Oral History Program

Exhibits

USS ''Massachusetts''

The largest vessel in the Battleship Cove fleet, the

battleship A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...

USS ''Massachusetts'' (BB-59) is the centerpiece of the collection. Known as "Big Mamie" to her crewmembers during World War II, a battleship of the second , was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the sixth state. Her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down 20 July 1939 at the

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. I ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...

. She was launched on 23 September 1941 sponsored by Mrs.

Charles Francis Adams III Charles Francis Adams III (August 2, 1866 – June 10, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician, who served as the 44th United States Secretary of the Navy under President Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. He was skipper of the Resolute which ...

, and commissioned on 12 May 1942 at Boston, Massachusetts, with Captain Francis E. M. Whiting in command. ''Massachusetts'' received eleven battle stars for World War II service and earned a reputation as a "Work Horse of the Fleet". During World War II, no United States Navy personnel were killed in action while aboard ''Massachusetts''. It is said that "Big Mamie" fired both the first US Navy shells of World War II (at the

Vichy French Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...

battleship in the Naval Battle of Casablanca during

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – 16 November 1942) was an Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while al ...

); and the last (at a Japanese steel works at

Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview H ...

), hours before the war ended. USS ''Massachusetts'' is one of eight United States battleships remaining of the many that were produced in the first half of the 20th century.

USS ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.''

USS ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'' (DD-850) is a of the United States Navy. The ship was named after Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., a naval aviator, son of the former Ambassador to Britain

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ken ...

and older brother of future President John F. Kennedy. ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'' is on display as a museum ship in Fall River, Massachusetts. Among the highlights of its service are the blockade of Cuba during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

and the afloat recovery teams for Gemini 6 and

Gemini 7 Gemini 7 (officially Gemini VII) With Gemini IV, NASA changed to Roman numerals for Gemini mission designations. was a 1965 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the fourth crewed Gemini flight, the twelfth crewed American spacef ...

. ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'' was decommissioned in 1973, and brought to Battleship Cove the following year. In the spring of 2000, ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'' was brought to Rhode Island Sound for the movie ''Thirteen Days'', portraying both herself and .

USS ''Lionfish''

USS ''Lionfish'' (SS-298), a , was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the lionfish, a scorpaenoid fish found in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

and the tropical Pacific. After completing her shakedown cruise off

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, she began her first war patrol in Japanese waters on 1 April 1945. Ten days later, she dodged two

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...

es fired by a Japanese submarine and on 1 May destroyed a Japanese

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

with her

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose ...

. After a rendezvous with the submarine , she transported

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

survivors to

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

and then made her way to

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

for replenishment. On 2 June she started her second war patrol, and on 10 July fired torpedoes at a surfaced Japanese submarine, after which ''Lionfish''s crew heard explosions and observed smoke through their periscope. She subsequently fired on two more Japanese submarines and ended her second and last war patrol performing lifeguard duty (the rescue of downed fliers) off the coast of Japan. When hostilities ended on 15 August she headed for

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

and was decommissioned at

Mare Island Navy Yard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates t ...

on 16 January 1946. ''Lionfish'' was recommissioned on 31 January 1951, and headed for the East Coast for training cruises. After participating in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

exercises and a Mediterranean cruise, she returned to the East Coast and was decommissioned at the

Boston Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

on 15 December 1953. In 1960, the submarine was called to duty again, this time serving as a reserve training submarine at

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

. In 1971, she was stricken from the ''Navy Register'', and in 1973, she was unveiled for permanent display as a memorial at Battleship Cove, where she has evolved into one of the museum’s most popular exhibits and a monument to all submariners.

''Hiddensee''

Originally commissioned by the East German Navy as ''Rudolf Egelhofer'', ''Hiddensee'' is a built at the Petrovsky Shipyard in 1984, located near the former Soviet (now Russian) city of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

(now St. Petersburg). An example of a Soviet-built missile corvette, ''Hiddensee'' was designed to oppose any naval threat to the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

coast, and to fulfill this mission carried long-range

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, ...

anti-ship missiles and an array of defensive weapons designed to ensure her own survival. Following the

reunification of Germany German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, ''Hiddensee'' served with the Federal German Navy until her decommissioning in April 1991. Shortly thereafter she was reactivated and transferred to the U.S. Navy. Joined briefly by a crew of 20 former East German sailors, a small civilian U.S. crew conducted extensive testing with the vessel at the U.S. Navy's

Solomons, Maryland Solomons, also known as Solomons Island, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,368 at the 2010 census, up from 1,536 in 2000. Solomons is a popular weekend ...

facility in the

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...

. After 50 underway deployments in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

and

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it ...

areas, Navy budget cutbacks severely curtailed operations, but she continued on as a research vessel until April 1996. ''Hiddensee'' joined the Battleship Cove fleet in Fall River on June 14, 1997. She is moored on the port side of .

PT boats

The year 1975 marked the arrival of PT boat '' PT-796'', joined in 1984 by '' PT-617'', forming the only pair of restored PT boats on display in the world. ''PT-617'' is the only remaining Elco PT boat on display similar to that of John F. Kennedy's ''PT-109''.

USS ''Fall River''

USS ''Fall River'' (CA-131) was a

heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...

launched 13 August 1944 by New York Shipbuilding Corp. at

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 20 ...

; sponsored by Mrs. Alexander C. Murray, wife of the mayor of Fall River; and commissioned 1 July 1945, Captain D. S. Crawford in command. On 31 October 1945, ''Fall River'' arrived at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

out of which she sailed in experimental development operations until 31 January 1946. The cruiser was assigned to JTF 1, organized to conduct

Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

s tests in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Inte ...

in the summer of 1946. To prepare for this duty, ''Fall River'' sailed to

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: "St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

, where from 16 February to 6 March she was altered to provide

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

accommodations. Arriving at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

on 17 March, she embarked

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Frank G. Fahrion, commander of the target vessel's group for the tests, and with him sailed in the Marshalls between 21 May and 14 September. After West Coast training, ''Fall River'' served a tour of duty in the Far East as flagship of Cruiser Division 1 from 12 January 1947 to 17 June 1947. She returned to Puget Sound Navy Yard, where she was placed out of commission in reserve 31 October 1947. The tip of her bow is now on display at Battleship Cove.

References

External links

Battleship Cove Naval Museum homepage

��Photos of the Elco PT boat ''PT-617''

��Photos of the Higgins PT boat ''PT-796''

��Photos on board the destroyer ''Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.'' DD-780

��Photos on board the submarine USS ''Lionfish'' SS-298 in Fall River, MA

��Photos on board the Soviet missile corvette ''Hiddensee'' at the Battleship Cove Naval Museum in Fall River, MA

��Photos on board the battleship USS ''Massachusetts'' BB-59 in Fall River, MA {{authority control Buildings and structures in Fall River, Massachusetts History of Bristol County, Massachusetts Maritime museums in Massachusetts Museums in Bristol County, Massachusetts Naval museums in the United States Tourist attractions in Fall River, Massachusetts World War II museums in the United States