 USS Kentucky, circa 1915-1920
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Kentucky |
| Namesake | Kentucky |
| Ordered | 2 March 1895 |
| Builder | Newport News SB&DD |
| Laid down | 30 June 1896 |
| Launched | 24 March 1898 |
| Commissioned | 15 May 1900 |
| Decommissioned | 29 May 1920 |
| Stricken | 27 May 1922 |
| Identification | Hull symbol: BB-6 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 24 March 1923 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Kearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | 11,540 short tons (10,470 t) |
| Length | 375 ft 4 in (114.40 m) |
| Beam | 72 ft 3 in (22.02 m) |
| Draft | 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) |
| Installed power | 5 boilers, 12,179 ihp (9,082 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 VTE engines, 2 propeller shafts |
| Speed | 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph) |
| Complement | 60 officers and 514 enlisted men |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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USS Kentucky (BB-6), was the second and final Kearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy in the 1890s. Designed for coastal defense, the Kearsarge-class battleships had a low freeboard and heavy armor. The ships carried an armament of four 13-inch (330 mm) and four 8-inch (203 mm) guns in an unusual two-story turret arrangement. The Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Virginia laid down her keel on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898 and was commissioned on 15 May 1900.
In her twenty years of service, Kentucky participated in no combat. Between 1901 and 1904, she served in East Asia, and from 1904 to 1907 she cruised the Atlantic. In 1907, she joined the Great White Fleet on its world tour, returning to the United States in 1909. She was modernized between 1909 and 1911, but did not operate again until 1915, when she sailed to the Mexican coast to participate in the American intervention in the Mexican Revolution, where she stayed until 1916. From 1917 until her decommissioning on 29 May 1920, she served as a training ship. She was sold for scrap on 24 March 1923.