page_title: USS Massachusetts (BB-2)
section_title: Spanish–American War
hierarchical_section_title: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) / Service history / Spanish–American War
caption_attribution_description: USS Massachusetts (BB-2), oil on canvas painting by Antonio Jacobsen, original 14 in × 20 in (35.5 cm × 50.8 cm)
context_page_description: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) is an Indiana-class battleship and the second United States Navy ship comparable to foreign battleships of its time. Today she is a diving site off Pensacola, Florida.
  Authorized in 1890 and commissioned six years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship class also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defense and as a result, her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.
  Massachusetts served in the Spanish–American War as part of the Flying Squadron and took part in the blockades of Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba. She missed the decisive Battle of Santiago de Cuba after steaming to Guantánamo Bay the night before to resupply coal. After the war she served with the North Atlantic Squadron, performing training maneuvers and gunnery practice. During this period she suffered an explosion in an 8-inch gun turret, killing nine, and ran aground twice, requiring several months of repair both times. She was decommissioned in 1906 for modernization.
context_section_description: After the outbreak of the Spanish–American War the Flying Squadron steamed to Key West. There Schley met with Rear Admiral Sampson, who had just returned from the bombardment of San Juan, Puerto Rico. They discussed the possible locations of the Spanish squadron under Admiral Cervera, and Schley was sent to the harbor of Cienfuegos, Cuba to look for Cervera. Schley arrived off Cienfuegos on 22 May and took several days to establish that Cervera's ships were not in the harbor. The squadron then proceeded to Santiago de Cuba, the only other port on the southern coast of Cuba large enough for the Spanish ships, arriving after several delays on 29 May. On arrival, the Spanish cruiser Cristóbal Colón was visible from outside the harbor entrance, confirming that the Spanish fleet was in the harbor. Schley blockaded the harbor and informed Sampson, who arrived with his own squadron on 1 June and assumed overall command.
  During the next month Massachusetts took part in the blockade of Santiago, occasionally bombarding the harbor forts. On the night of 2–3 July she and the two cruisers New Orleans and Newark left the blockade to load coal in Guantanamo Bay. This caused her to miss the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on 3 July, in which the Spanish fleet attempted to break through the blockade and was completely destroyed. The next day the battleship came back to Santiago, where she and Texas fired at the disarmed Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes, which was being scuttled by the Spanish in an attempt to block the harbor entrance channel. Massachusetts was then sent to Puerto Rico to support the American occupation until she steamed home to New York on 1 August, arriving on 20 August.
caption: Painting of USS Massachusetts
exif: {}