 Massachusetts was constructed from a modified version of a design drawn up by a policy board in 1889 for a short @-@ range battleship . The original design was part of an ambitious naval construction plan to build 33 battleships and 167 smaller ships . The United States Congress saw the plan as an attempt to end the U.S. policy of isolationism and did not approve it , but a year later approved funding for three coast defense battleships , which would become Massachusetts and her sister ships Indiana and Oregon . The ships were limited to coastal defense due to their moderate endurance , relatively small displacement and low freeboard , or distance from the deck to the water , which limited seagoing capability . They were however heavily armed and armored ; Conway 's All The World 's Fighting Ships describes their design as " attempting too much on a very limited displacement . " 
