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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. For
the complete, printer-friendly history of USS Massachusetts, follow this
link. |
