Lot Essay
Built by William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia, the Indiana class battleship U.S.S. Massachusetts was laid down on 25th June 1891 and launched two years later on 10th June 1893 at a cost of approximately $6,000,000. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War (1898), she was ordered to join the 'Flying Squadron' under the command of Commodore Winfield Scott Schley (see lot 123). Although taking part in the blockade of Santiago, she was not present at the decisive battle of Santiago de Cuba. Serving with the North Atlantic Squadron after the war, in 1906 she was considered obsolete and was decommissioned for modernisation. Recommissioned in 1917 to serve as a training ship for gun crews during World War I, she was scuttled in shallow water off the coast of Pensacola, Florida in 1921.