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| The
USS Massachusetts in her final berth. |
The
Destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. |
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| 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. |
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| 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.
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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.
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| 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" |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Twin
40mm guns on the USS Massachusetts. |
The
rear 16" guns of USS Massachusetts. |
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| Mess
Hall museum exhibit, lower deck of the USS Massachusetts. |
Shrapnel
damage on the starboard side of USS Massachusetts
from the Casablanca battle. |
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| The
original bell of the USS Massachusetts. |
Yep,
there's Tom Dougherty's name on the crew list. |
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| The
plaque that precedes the name of her crew members. |
A
section of the ship hit by coastal fire during the
Casablanca Battle. |
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| 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. |
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| The
explanation of the above-left photo of the shell damage
to the hull of the ship. |
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| Looking
forward towards the bow. |
The
superstructure. |
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| 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. |
