A pictorial guide to battleship Massachusetts, a WWII veteran and floating museum. USS Massachusetts (BB-59) is a South Dakota–class battleship.Launched just before US entry into the Second World War, Massachusetts saw action in the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters at Casablanca, the Philippines, and Okinawa.The ship survived the war and the scrapyard and is currently on display at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. This is a detailed pictorial history of the ship, including nearly 400 vintage and recent photographs.