Battleship Cove

The largest vessel in the Battleship Cove fleet, the battleship USS Massachusetts is the centerpiece of the collection. Known as "Big Mamie" to her crewmembers during World War II, a battleship of the second South Dakota class, was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the sixth state. Her keel was laid down 20 July 1939 at the Fore River Shipyard. …

USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DD-850) is a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy. The ship was named after Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., a naval aviator, son of the former Ambassador to Britain Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and older brother of future President John F. Kennedy. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. is on display as a museum ship in Fall River, Massachusetts. Among the highlights of its service are the blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the afloat recovery teams for Gemini 6 and Gemini 7. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was decommissioned in 1973, and brought to Battleship Cove the following year.

In the spring of 2000, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was brought to Rhode Island Sound for the movie Thirteen Days, portraying both herself and USS John R. Pierce.

USS Lionfish (SS-298), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the lionfish. After completing her shakedown cruise off New England, she began her first war patrol in Japanese waters on 1 April 1945. Ten days later, she dodged two torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine and on 1 May destroyed a Japanese schooner with her deck gun. After a rendezvous with the submarine USS Ray, she transported B-29 survivors to Saipan and then made her way to Midway Island for replenishment.

On 2 June she started her second war patrol, and on 10 July fired torpedoes at a surfaced Japanese submarine, after which Lionfish's crew heard explosions and observed smoke through their periscope. She subsequently fired on two more Japanese submarines and ended her second and last war patrol performing lifeguard duty (the rescue of downed fliers) off the coast of Japan. When hostilities ended on 15 August she headed for San Francisco and was decommissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 16 January 1946.

Lionfish was recommissioned on 31 January 1951, and headed for the East Coast for training cruises. After participating in NATO exercises and a Mediterranean cruise, she returned to the East Coast and was decommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 15 December 1953.

In 1960, the submarine was called to duty again, this time serving as a reserve training submarine at Providence, Rhode Island. In 1971, she was stricken from the Navy Register, and in 1973, she was unveiled for permanent display as a memorial at Battleship Cove, where she has evolved into one of the museum’s most popular exhibits and a monument to all submariners.

Hiddensee is a Tarantul-class corvette built at the Petrovsky Shipyard in 1984, located near the former Soviet (now Russian) city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). An 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 survival.

Following the reunification of Germany, Hiddensee served with the Federal German Navy until her decommissioning in April 1991. Shortly thereafter she was reactivated and transferred to the U.S. Navy. Joined briefly by a crew of 20 former East German sailors, a small civilian U.S. crew conducted extensive testing with the vessel at the U.S. Navy's Solomons, Maryland facility in the Patuxent River. After 50 underway deployments, she continued on as a research vessel until April 1996.

Hiddensee joined the Battleship Cove fleet in Fall River on June 14, 1997. She is moored on the port side of USS Lionfish.

Source: Wiki