MASSACHUSETTS BB 59

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

South Dakota Class Battleship Keel Laid July 20 1939 - Launched September 23 1941 USS MASSACHUSETTS BB-59 Commissioned May 12 1942 - Decommissioned March 2 1947 Struck from Naval Register June 1 1962 Preserved as Memorial at Fall River Massachusetts on June 8 1965

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS Massachusetts BB-59 Covers Page 1     (1941-1946)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1946-04-20

Cacheted

 

Locy Type 2z

1945-04-09

Censored wartime (WWII) use

 

Locy Type 3z (BTB)

1942-06-16

Censored Sailors Mail

 

Locy Type 9vz

1942-07-08 to 1942-07-09

Mark from back of cover

 

Other Information

USS MASSACHUSETTS BB-59 earned the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one battle star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with ten battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon and the Philippine Liberation Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Named for The State of Massachusetts

There have been eight ships in the US Navy named MASSACHUSETTS -
USRC Massachusetts (1791), a topsail schooner, was the first Revenue Marine
    cutter of the United States.
USS Massachusetts (1845), was a wooden steamer that saw action
    during the Mexican-American War and in Puget Sound.
USS Massachusetts (1860), was an iron screw steamer that saw
    action during the American Civil War.
USS Massachusetts (1869), was the never-launched Kalamazoo-class monitor Passaconaway
    renamed first to Thunderer then to Massachusetts before being scrapped in 1884.
USS Massachusetts (BB-2) was a battleship that saw action in the Spanish-American War.
USS Massachusetts (1917), was purchased by the US Navy as SS Massachusetts from
    the Eastern Steamship Co. in 1917; commissioned 7 December 1917 and renamed Shawmut 7 January 1918.
USS Massachusetts (BB-54) was a battleship already under construction
    when she was canceled by the Washington Naval Treaty in 1923.
USS Massachusetts (BB-59) was a battleship that saw action in World War.

Ships sponsor was Mrs. Charles Francis Adams, wife of former Secretary of the Navy, Charles Francis Adams III

USS Massachusetts BB-59 was enshrined at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, on 14 August 1965, as the Bay State's memorial to those who gave their lives in World War II.

USS Massachusetts BB-59 was designated a National Historic Landmark on 14 January 1986.

 

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