Battleship Cove

History that does not live in a book but comes alive as you walk where the sailors walked and learn what life was like on several warships, spanning decades. There is food, a gift shop, other museums (Rail and marine) nearby and a restored carousel to ride right next door.

Great experience for the entire family

This is a pretty cool site to see. You can go all over the ships (there are two ships and a sub usually) and many areas are set up with mannequins and props to give you an idea of what it was like while it was in operation. There are videos of interviews and information to read scattered around the different areas so you can read/​listen for more information on the things you are curious about. Good for all ages.

You won’t find a larger collection of warships in the US. I remember touring the old girls back when I was a boy 40 years ago. Rarely are there crowds and you can get a real sense of what it was like on these ships 65 years ago. They have also added some modern immersive tech to give a feel of the battle.

I hadn’t anticipated much before going to Battleship Cove, but wow, there was definitely a lot to see. I didn’t realize that there would be so much exploration that you’d be allowed to do on the ship. Definitely a lot of steps (like ladders) but it would be fun and interactive for the entire family. Certainly neat to check out.

Battleship Cove is very impressive and enjoyable for the entire family. Even on a cold and windy winter day!
Plan on spending at least 2 hours or more.
As expected, there are a lot of steps within the vessels and a lot of walking around. Even looking at the ships from afar is a spectacular thing to see.

What an amazing bit of history is a classic New England town… Right off the highway too. My boyfriend and friends had a blast. The price was certainly fair. I would compare our trip to Battleship Cove like going on a playground for adults! We went when it was colder out, about 30 degrees and we still had a blast. We got to sit in a captains chair too! We went for about four hours and thought we’d have enough time to go through all of the crafts. Forget it! This is a day trip and you won’t regret it. We are so lucky to have a wonderful piece of history preserved.

Battleship Cove is an excellent experience with many interesting highlights, from the PT boats, the destroyer, and the battleship! And the submarine is a bonus!
Naval historians and history buffs will appreciate this place and such a great location!

A great active history lesson for all, especially kids who seem to take to climbing all over warships. At 0930 on a Sunday in late August there were no crowds or lines.
Read the recent biography of Lucian Prescott and the description of the Battle of Casablanca, so you can imagine the USS Massachusetts in action.

This battleship brings history to life. I really like it. Maybe the crew should wear symbolic clothing and I would to see pictures of those who served our country on this ship and the submarine. Very unique if you have time.
AAA members also get a discount.

Still a great adventure.
Looking for somewhere to take out of town family or guests? You found it if you take them here. Absolutely awesome place to take family or friends for the day. So many things to see — you have the USS Massachusetts, USS Kennedy, USS Lionfish, and another boat I don’t remember the name of. Kids love it, seniors love it, everybody loves it. Also, there are people on and around the boats that are very helpful and friendly.
Highly recommend going. I’ve been at least a dozen times.

I’ve been wanting to visit Battleship Cove for a few years now, and now that I finally have, I can finally say that it was so much fun and such a cool experience. I think in order to really enjoy yourself you have to have an interest in history and enjoyment of the voyeuristic feeling from «snooping» around from room to room and ship to ship. I know I do!
It could easily take you a whole day to visit all of their ships and check out all of the exhibits. Yes, some of the exhibits, label copy, and signage was a bit old, but the ships themselves were incredible. I enjoyed snaking my way through corridors, up and down levels, and in and out of rooms to check out all the nooks and crannies. Along the way they had cool videos, artifact displays, models, etc., that were very informative.
If you like history, war, or ships, you’ll love Battleship Cove. It’s best for people who are pretty mobile though, since there can be a lot of stooping and climbing to get around from place to place. There were a lot of families on the day I visited, and they kiddos seemed to have a blast!

This is one of my favorite museums. I’ve been here a bunch of times, and I never get tired of it. If you like history, this place is fantastic. You can explore several ships and exhibits, and imagine what it must have been like to be aboard them back in the day. It feels like a sort of time machine, and I think that’s my favorite part.

Brought back memories of when I was a kid and how use to come here for field trips. My 7 year old loved it and all stuff he could do and touch. Loved all the exploring and how he could go many places on the boat. Price I think is pretty reasonable for all u get. It can go fast or take time depending on how much u read about things.

My first time bringing my 5yr old son and husband. I can remember coming as a child with my parents and it’s just like I remember if not better. Thank you for an amazing day and a day bringing back lots of old memories while making new ones!

My boyfriend wanted to check this place out since his father was in the navy. I was not equally as intrigued, but I said I would give it a shot. I was very amazed by our few hours we spent there. The first ship we went on (HUGE) was so interesting. There are so many doors and ladders and rooms and hallways and nooks it was insane! We were on it for well over an hour to an hour and a half. It was a monster! It’s very well labeled along the ship letting you know what everything was and how it was used and so on. Then we got to go on/​in the submarine which was pretty cool as well. It’s def worth a ½ day trip if your into ships and history. There was tons of Boy Scouts there that were also going to be sleeping on the bunks on the big ship (which is really cool that they allow that) as a history field trip. It was near to experience some old history for a few hours.

This is the third warship museum I have visited, and the worst example I have seen. With so much potential it is disappointing to see such little effort in its presentation. If you are expecting good displays about ship life, the history of the Massachusetts, interactive displays, or even the simple ability to visit neat parts of the ship you will be disappointed. Instead you are confined to about three decks of the ship with expansive parts dedicated to overnight berthing for tour groups.
The aft portion of the displays is a disjointed homage to torpedo boats consisting of individual unit souvenirs and plastic aircraft models. The torpedo boat exhibit has potential, but fails to tell any sort of story. Just throwing souvenirs in a case is lazy and wastes a golden opportunity. The plastic model section is littered with mislabeled planes and pictures falling out of frames. Crammed in the back of the plastic models is a strange homage to a former Cruiser without much background. The forward part of the ship is more berthing for overnight groups and a small display about radar picket ships.
One of the most frustrating things about the battleship is the complete lack of decent maps for tours. Other warship museums use multi level maps and colors on the deck to help the visitor conduct a self paced tour, usually shadowing the story of a former crewman or event. You do not get that benefit here at battleship cove. Instead you wander around and hope you find something neat. We really wanted to go to the bridge, but where unable to. I believe this is because the bridge is not open to the tour, but it is possible that we just didnt understand the limited maps we had. Same goes for getting inside one of the 16 inch turrets.
The other ships where just as bad, with the East German Corvette devoid of any facts, stories or displays.
Tremendous potential here, lacking creativity and direction.

While visiting New England over the holidays, my fella and I started chatting with some friends about our love of Ken Burn’s docuseries on World War 2.
Incidentally, if you haven’t seen it yet, and you love history, call in sick tomorrow and take a day for yourself and the war. You weren’t going to cure cancer at the office anyways, right?
So as I gushed on and on about the joys of crocheting while drinking a cocktail and listening to the many voices of WW2, our friends made the suggestion that we take a day and head over to Battleship Cove.
My imagination lit right up! A cove full of restored vintage battleships that you can walk through and explore??? One THOUSAND exclamation points!!!
I looked it up on Unilocal,saw the five stars, and routed it… an hour and a half from where our friends live, and an hour from where we were staying! Not bad, if you’re on vacation, and it’s the cold and rainy off season.
My fella was slightly less jazzed. Sure, battleships are cool, but do we really need to spend another two hours in the rental car? We’ll drive an hour there, and then be there for an hour, and then we’ll be looking for something else to do.
Undeterred, I set my mind on a fun adventure for Sunday afternoon. I figured it was gonna be Battleships, or something equally awesome. I checked Unilocal Saturday night– there is a ship in Quincy which is closed for the season (damn!), a few old houses (semi-​cool) and a couple of art museums (semi-​yawn), and I reported my findings back to my fella– Battleship Cove, Sunday morning, please and thank you!
Now, I was getting over a very persistent cold, so my fella figured if he let me sleep to my snifflie heart’s content, I’d have forgotten all about Battleship Cove by the time I regained consciousness. I woke up at noon on Sunday and immediately got dressed to go see BATTLESHIPS!
His dream of a lazy Sunday watching the Patriots thwarted by my one track mind, my fella drove me to Battleship Cove… and then HE LOVED IT!!!
Seriously, it’s amazing!
They’ve painstakingly renovated a little fleet of ships, and you can see PT boats, a sub, a destroyer, and a cruiser, along with a couple stray helicopters that were closed up to prevent me from climbing in them and making «PEW PEW» noises and taking instagram photos.
It was really, really cool. You will not believe how tiny some of the spaces are on the sub, frankly, it’s humbling to be reminded of the men who’ve served under such difficult circumstances.
On board the largest ship, there is an extensive collection of memorabilia from the era which was so detailed that it literally left me lightheaded. My brain could hold no more factual information. So rather than spend an hour, we spent four, and if I would have been 100% well, we might have shut the place down. There’s a lot to see, and it’s genuinely worth seeing and thinking about.
Side note: we had an awesome meal after our visit to Battleship Cove at the nearby Taphouse Grill. When we sat down to eat, my fella said «I need to go wash my hands. They smell like battleships.»
I feel I’ve given you enough reasons to drive an hour to Fall River to check this out, but just in case I haven’t, I’ll upload some pictures soon.

I’ve had a yearning to invade Somerset for years, so I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to check out a whole effing fleet of battleships resting in deceptive slumber right under its nose.
It’s about time Fall River flexes some Imperialistic muscles. What’s the good in having all these violent criminals if you can’t put them to work invading neighboring towns?
The Soviets must have sold a boat to us capitalist swine some years back, because Fall River hosts one of their cruisers too.
I don’t see the submarine as being of much help when D-​Day arrives, but those Higgins boats will no doubt prove useful.
Hey Swansea: Looking good.

We spent the night here with our Cub Scout Pack, and it was a great experience for young and old alike. They start letting in overnight visitors at noon (I think; may be different for different groups) and we had the run of the ships all afternoon AND evening. I’ll just echo what everybody has said about the fascination for kids of climbing in and out of hatches and aiming enormous guns, and the fascination for grownups in watching the video interviews with former sailors on the Massachusetts and studying the exhibits in the various mini museums, most of which consist of memorabilia collected during WWII and displayed in glass cases with ancient typewritten labels explaining them.
There were 500 scouts and their grownups aboard on a Saturday night and we bunked all over the battleship and the destroyer, the Joseph P Kennedy. We had a mess-​hall meal in the evening and for breakfast that was probably the kind of thing the sailors would have eaten, and watched a short movie after dinner about the ship followed by a Q and A session with a very funny and informative vet who had served aboard «Big Mamie» during the entire time she had been at war.
A few of the adults were worried about their kids getting lost and spent time running after them through the passageways and ultimately falling behind; we all discovered after a while that there was nowhere for them to go and we relaxed. Nary a man jack, nor boy, was reported missing at the end of the evening.
The next morning we were required to vacate our sleeping quarters by 9 am and most of us headed out then, pretty tired after not getting the greatest night’s sleep in the cramped quarters with lots of strange sounds through the night. It’s a trip we will all remember for a long time. Many of the packs came with their entire families which I’d recommend; it’s a treat for everyone.