Hi everyone, glad this video got so much traction! I keep seeing a lot of comments in regard to other cruisers that are preserved today. I just wanted to make a note: Salem is the only preserved Heavy Cruiser left, not the only cruiser preserved in the world. There are a number of cruisers of different types (armored, light, etc) that are out there, examples like HMS Belfast, the Averof in Greece, USS Little Rock and USS Olympia.
It's awful how poorly that ship has been maintained. Just from that clip alone, I can tell that it desperately needs to be repainted on the waterline, the wood decking is badly rotted, and even the paint on the upper deck is showing clear signs of rust. Before it becomes a USS The Sullivans situation, they really need to secure further funding to bring her back to shape. Otherwise she may be involuntarily destined for the scrap heap, which would be an enormous tragedy.
Agreed, she needs some work. I just think she doesn’t get as much love as the museum battleships, but we have to thank her crew and volunteers for their continuous work! Hopefully one day she’ll get a new paint job and deck to help her looks
@@svgproductions72 Hopefully! Though for me the bigger concern is her buoyancy; unlike the Sullivans, if she were to sink at her moorings, she'd very likely be a write-off, because being such a large (and relatively unarmoured) ship, she'd break her back way more easily. :(
@@TheEDFLegacy I understand that, I watched the Sullivans incident happen and was upset about it, we will just have to hope the same thing doesn’t happen to the Salem
Pointless to keep her afloat. Either completely bring her onto land and do a multi-million dollar restoration (who is going to pay for that?) And then built a shed around her to keep her out of the elements. Or just take out the oil tanks and sink her to create a new reef or just have her scrapped. I like the "reef" idea better because it helps ocean life and divers can still dive the ship.
Massachusetts has a very impressive Museum Fleet, The South Dakaota Class USS Massachusetts, Guided Missile Cruiser Joseph P. Kennedy, Fletcher Class Destroyer USS Cassin Young, 1 WWII Era submarine, an East German Tarantul Class Missile Boat, the National PT Boat Museum and The USS Salem. The Salem is the least visited, yet still the largest of them all.
I visited her a few years ago! It was the first time I’ve visited a battleship. I didn’t know about Salem until I heard about her on the Battleship New Jersey RU-vid channel
Massachusetts is the only preserved American battleship to sink, or even come into contact with an enemy battleship. She is also the only preserved American battleship to sink, or even come into contact with something larger than a destroyer
@@AcePilotX2 During the battle of Casablanca, Massachusetts engaged the Nazi controlled French battleship Jean Bart, and sank her in port. She also sank around 1-2 light cruisers and a 2 destroyers. Most American battleships encountered a destroyer or two at the most.
I visited USS Salem a couple of weeks back. I was really impressed. I have visited a variety of battleships, carriers, destroyers an subs. What USS Salem did best was the tour guides. They had volunteers that took each group coming aboard on a tour. No other museum ship I have been to offered free personalized tours. Definitely visit if you get the chance.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a tour while I was there, I roamed the ship by myself. A tour would have given me a lot more insight on the history of the ship
Not at all. The Des Moines class is the follow-on to the Baltimore and Oregon City classes of heavy cruisers, and is the ultimate heavy cruiser design. No relationship to battleships at all, different roles.
Given that that the railgun concept failed, this is honestly unlikely. Missiles are simply far more versatile and have ten times the range. It'd be amazing, but still.
@@Cailus3542 Yeah but you can shoot down missiles and rockets, and that'll only get easier. Sometimes, Old Fashioned still has a place. Don't know if an Aegis Class Defense System can take down a good old fashioned Shell, since there's no rocket signature to speak of on it
@@Cailus3542 yeah but slugging lead down range is way cheaper than an expensive high tech missiles. You can make 500 shells with same amount of money that one missle would take
I was just there yesterday and got an amazing tour from Jim including all sorts of hidden areas like the hangar and fire control room. What a great guy!
I have been here numerous times and even stayed overnight a few times. It is crazy how much of the ship is open to explore compared to other museum ships like the Missouri or the Intrepid
I spent the night on that ship several times in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. A great ship. I joined the Navy at 23. I still work for the Navy, 19 years later.
I remember her. My old science teacher served aboard and took us out on the occasional field trip to visit the Salem. Glad to see she's still seaworthy.
Been there done that. I was happy to visit the Salem since I’ve been on basically every basic ship type except a cruiser. I think the Buffalo is up in NY if I ever wanna visit a light cruiser too. And Massachusetts is my favorite museum ship because I’ve been visiting her my entire life.
I did not know that this was available in Boston. I have been to the Battleship Massachusetts museum almost 50 years ago. But I’ve always wanted to see one of these cruisers.
My grandfather served on the Salem in the Korean War time. Almost 15 years ago before he died he took me to see the ship and it was closed that day and when the security guard saw the USS Salem hat my grandfather was wearing he said I’m opening this ship for you and he gave us a private tour. It one of the best experiences of my life.
I served on the Heavy Cruiser, USS Newport News CA 148 on its 2nd Vietnam deployment. Great ship and good memories. There were 3 Heavy Cruisers with 8” rapid fire guns all of the same class. The DeMoines, the Newport News and the Salem. Only the USS Salem is left. On board the USS Salem is a memorial to the 20+ sailors killed on board the USS Newport News on its 3rd Vietnam deployment by an exploding 8” shell in turret 2. RIP
Thanks for that, I was focusing on aircraft but love all of this stuff, there’s a pretty big naval museum where I live so I’ll drop by there soon for another video
I believe that she is only one of three remaining post dreadnaught era cruisers, aside the US Cleveland class light cruiser Little Rock, and the UK Town/Edinburgh class light cruiser Belfast
Back in the early 90’s she was birthed in a mothball fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. I was just out of college and worked at the base. I loved walking past her and the Des Moines. I knew guys who inspected them in Phila and they said they were both in excellent shape at the time
When museum people visited from Quincy, the Des Moines was offered first. When the director saw that Salem was in much better shape (far less scavenging) he asked for Salem instead.
Even though I love American battleships and cruisers, I’ve always had a soft spot for the British KGVs and Queen Elizabeths! Shame none were saved at all
More like sink into the mud and roll over because her lower hull is flooded and rotted to the point she'd collapse under her own weight in dry berth just like Texas, the last dreadnaught that fight in both world wars and the battle of Jutland. No money to preserve these amazing machines that secured peace for generations and brought to heel the violence of the axis.
I love the badass history of the USS Massachusetts (BB-59). From initially being made under treaties to prevent an arms race (practically everyone agrees to not make their sh&t overpowered asf) before ww2. And as a consequence, it among other South Dakota class battleships had to compete against literal Japanese and Nazi (and French early in war) dreadnoughts armed to the teeth with the best guns, armor and speed made solely for war. But what makes the USS Massachusetts so special is that during its entire use during ww2. Not one soul on board was lost in combat. Its the ultimate form of going into not just a gun fight, but several gunfights time and time again with a knife and coming out a consecutively flawless victor. Not even a hair on your head being lost.
Lots of museum ships on the east coast to visit! If you like battleships, be sure to check out the USS Massachusetts, USS New Jersey and USS North Carolina
I wish there were still an Alaska around. They looked like baby Iowas, which themselves were my favorite BBs and looked better than every other BB ever except the Bismarcks and the Vittorio Venetos
What beautiful ships, it’s a shame none of those were saved.. but I understand they weren’t unfortunately. Also, a big thank you to your father for his service to our country!
I’ve been to the USS Salem and she needs better maintenance, but I loved seeing her, believe it or not the South Dakota class are very short for there size, both USS North Carolina and USS Washington are longer than them, the North Carolina class were also longer than the Des Moines class
the USS Salem was also used as the german pocket battleship Graf Spee in the 1954 Movie The Battle Of River Plate which saw her flimed along side the Achilles one of the leander class light crusiers in the real battle. the USS Salem looks pretty wreid in the movie however as she was very different to the Graf Spee pocket battleship.
@@svgproductions72 they took him about 15 years ago right before he died, he was shot in the knee in Korea from a fighter and lost his leg later in life after 4 knee replacements. I would love to go see the ship and see his station and all.
Fun fact: that shell next to the ticket booth and gang way isn’t an 8in shell or even a 16in. It’s taller than I am, weighs more than my car, and I can stand up inside it almost. It’s a 46cm shell. I heard that and I go “but there’s only one ship class that ever used anything that big…” “Yeah, that’s from a Yamato class battleship.”
Agreed, I’ve always loved the look of pre-war and World War II naval vessels over the more contemporary designs. A great mix of the two is the Iowas after conversions in the 80s!
The Zumwalt literally can't fire rounds. The rounds that they are designed to fire are way too expensive to fire. She's just a glorified target practice dummy. I would also take this over the Zumwalt any day as well
