Battleship Cove Naval Museum

If you have any interest in warships or naval history, the Battleship Cove Naval Museum is one of the places you MUST visit. It is home not only to the Battleship USS Massachusetts. Also moored on site are the Destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy, DD-850, the WWII US Fleet Submarine USS Lionfish SS-298, the Soviet Missile Corvette Hiddensee, and indoors are the restored Elco PT Boat PT 617 and Higgins PT Boat PT-796. Battleship Cove is located very near Providence, RI in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Some other exhibits this naval museum has on site include a Japanese Suicide Attack Boat, a Landing Craft, a Huey Helicopter, and a Cobra Attack Helicopter. You need to allow yourself a full day to visit the museum as there is so much to see. My favorite exhibits were the PT Boats. I had never seen one up close and they were really quite different than I imagined - especially their size - they are much larger than I had expected. The Elco PT Boat has been professionally restored to a very high standard, and the Higgins was actually in the Navy's active inventory up until the early 1960s. The wooden PTs are closed to the public except for PT Vets (they could not handle the volume of traffic the museum gets each day), but you can go aboard all the other ships.

You will need to be able to negotiate stairs as there is a bit of climbing to be done on all the vessels. Take your time and watch your head as you go through the hatchways of the Submarine USS Lionfish. The interior of the aft turret on the Battleship USS Massachusetts will be the most challenging as there is a bit of twisting and climbing to get in (watch your head) but to me it was worth the effort. There also is a snack bar/grill in the galley of the USS Massachusetts so you don't have to go off site for lunch. The food was pretty decent the day I was there. Or I could have just been really hungry. There is a walkway along the shoreline where you can take in all of the moored ships from a distance. DO take the walk along that walkway. You won't regret it. The scene is really quite spectacular. Early morning gives the best light from this vantage point.

Battleship Cove Naval Museum Exhibits:

Battleship: USS Massachusetts
PT Boat: Elco PT 617 and Higgins PT-796
Submarine: Balao Class US Fleet Submarine USS Lionfish SS-298
Destroyer: USS Joseph P. Kennedy
Soviet Missile Corvette: Hiddensee
Axis Craft: Japanese Suicide Boat
Other Craft: US Landing Craft
Aircraft: Huey Helicopter, Cobra Attack Helicopter, T-28 trainer