Episode 405 - The USS Massachusetts, America's Dumbest Battleship

PREORDER JOE'S NEW FANTASY NOVEL:
amazon.com/Highlands-Burn-Foundling-Brigade-Sa…

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON:
patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

In a time before US Naval dominance, the not-quite-yet imperial power decided to modernize its Navy to a level that might enable it to compete with its European counterparts.

Instead, they created the USS Massachusetts and the Indiana Class. A battleship that was not a battleship, with guns so large they were more hazardous to the ship itself than any enemy, and so impossible to control the Navy kept crashing it into rocks.

There are two battleships named the USS Massachusetts. This is the BB-2. The one that fought in WWII is the BB-59

Sources:

Gardiner, Robert; Lambert, Andrew D. (1992). Steam, Steel & Shellfire: The Steam Warship 1815–1905

al.com/news/mobile/2016/07/diving_the_worst_ba…

usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020…

nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/uss-massachuset…

warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-epic-jou…

timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1901/03/…

timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/08/…

timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/12/…

timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/12/…