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.
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 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 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
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 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
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.
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 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
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
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
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
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.”
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.
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.
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 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.
Looking at her condition she needs serious repairs if she wants to stay the only Heavy Cruiser in existence. There is significant hull rust at, just above, and probably below the Waterline, significant damage to her wooden deck, rust along the railing base and there's likely much more wrong with the ship that needs repaired. Other than that the vessel looks incredibly good for it's age and I'm hoping she stays around for decades to come.
The hull is 98-99% sound and all through hull openings, including shafts, are sealed. She needs paint at the waterline and a new teak deck, but otherwise she is in fantastic material condition
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
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 don't know if they do it anymore. But years ago they did a haunted house aboard the ship, where you could travel through the ship from bow to stern. It was a fun experience for the whole family, so I hope it's still going on.
Unfortunately no. The volunteer run Haunted Ship was replaced by the commercially run Ghost Ship Harbor, and they went out of business years ago. Paranormal adventures are done on board year round
I served on her for three years and was E4 with Promotion is six when I left to go to SHORE next duty in Norfolk Virginia after a total of eight years duty I went into the Coast Guard for 18 years retired as a master chief E nine
It is said by the volunteer staff that the Captain & crew of the USS Salem;along with the soldiers coming in from the frontlines who had died on the tables in the ship's or rooms during the Korean & Vietnam wars,their spirits can be felt & seen walking down the corridors & decks of the ship.Along with hearing the distinctive sound of voices & footsteps of the departed U.S. Army,Marines & Navy personnel throughout the ship.Some of the U.S. Navy personnel who served aboard her,had so many fond memories,making friends,and forging strong bonds with eachother,that when they passed away decades later from cancer as a result of being exposed to asbestos while serving aboard her in the U.S. Navy;their departed soul would return to the last place that they had a very strong bond & connection to when they were alive,such as the USS Salem.The deceased victims of an earthquake that struck Greece back in the 1970's,their departed souls also haunts the ship.
The Salem never served in combat, so no war dead on her at all. She was first on site for the earthquake in Greece, and some people *may* have died on board. 2-3 babies were born on board, as there was no hospital standing
@@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.
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 ship played as German pocket Graf Spee in 1950s color film battle of Riverplate though questioned of using US Heavy cruiser for some exterior shots instead of using miniature model of Graf Spee I think USS Salem should play as USS Los Angeles for Tintin movie Red sea shark since Des Moines had similar turret positions of Baltimore but only one funnel
I’ll be completely honest, I had no idea that any of the WWII-designed post war cruisers still existed out there either until a year or two ago. She’s of a rare breed!
The Salem is also a movie. Star THE BATTALIONS OF RIVER PLATE NOVEMBER 1939 it played part of thee German pocket battleship the ADMIRAL GRAF SPREE kid you want to see #139 in all its glory
