 USS Massachusetts ( BB @-@ 59 ) , known as " Big Mamie " to her crewmembers during World War II , was a battleship of the second South Dakota class . She was the seventh ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the sixth state , and one of two ships of her class ( along with her sister Alabama ) to be donated for use as a museum ship . Massachusetts has the distinction of having fired the US Navy 's first and last 16 @-@ in ( 406 mm ) shells of the war . 
