In 1906, the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought heralded a revolution in capital ship design. The term came into formal use in the late 1880s to describe a specific type of ironclad warship (now referred to by historians as pre- Dreadnought battleships). The word "battleship" was coined around 1794 and is a contraction of the phrase "line-of-battle ship," the dominant wooden warship during the Age of Sail. The ships boasted extensive armor and as such were designed to survive severe punishment inflicted upon them by other capital ships. Evolved from the ship of the line, their main armament consisted of multiple heavy cannon mounted in movable turrets. The battleship, though now essentially obsolete as a naval weapon, is a naval vessel intended to engage the most powerful warships of an opposing navy. The USS Massachusetts (BB-59) or "Big Mamie," on display as a museum ship in Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts.
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