FALL RIVER - In an effort to get his Communications merit badge, Boy Scout Ryan Salmon of Somerset sent us a letter asking about the "big guns" on the Battleship Massachusetts.

"I wanted to know if you could start shooting blanks out the cannons on the destroyer on the 4th of July again," Salmon wrote. "I was never alive to see this but my father told me it was cool."

We went straight to the source: Cristoff Shay, executive vice president of Battleship Cove.

He confirmed Salmon's father's recollection. "At one time the guns were shot off during Fourth of July," Shay said, "We no longer do that due to our crowd size having grown to over 1,000 people the night of the fireworks."

The Battleship sells tickets on the Fourth of July for folks to be able to watch the fireworks display from the deck of Big Mamie.

Some Fall River and Somerset residents probably heard the guns being shot off during the recent 9/11 ceremony, as Battleship Cove is the site of the commonwealth's official memorial for 9/11. The guns are also used for Battleship Cove's Memorial Day ceremony.

According to Shay, the 5-inch guns use a 38-caliber blank with a gun power mix; a shotgun shell is used to ignite.

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