 In March 1901 the battleship grounded again , this time in the harbor of Pensacola , Florida , but the ship was able to continue her trip . A more serious accident occurred during target practice in January 1903 , when an explosion in an 8 @-@ inch turret killed nine crew members . They were the first fatalities aboard a United States battleship since the sinking of the Maine . Another accident happened in August of that year , when Massachusetts grounded on a rock in Frenchman Bay , Maine . The ship was seriously damaged and had to be repaired in drydock . In December 1904 yet another lethal accident took place aboard Massachusetts : three men were killed and several others badly burned when a broken gasket caused steam to fill the boiler room . On 8 January 1906 the battleship was decommissioned and her crew was transferred to her sister ship Indiana , which had completed a three @-@ year modernization . Massachusetts now received the same upgrades , including twelve 3 " / 50 caliber gun single @-@ purpose guns to replace the 6 @-@ inch and most of the lighter guns , new Babcock & Wilcox boilers , counterweights to balance her main turrets , a lattice mast and electric traversing mechanisms for her turrets . 
