USS Kentucky (BB-6)

USS Kentucky
USS Kentucky, circa 1915-1920
History
United States
NameKentucky
NamesakeKentucky
Ordered2 March 1895
BuilderNewport News SB&DD
Laid down30 June 1896
Launched24 March 1898
Commissioned15 May 1900
Decommissioned29 May 1920
Stricken27 May 1922
IdentificationHull symbol: BB-6
FateSold for scrap, 24 March 1923
General characteristics
Class and typeKearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement11,540 short tons (10,470 t)
Length375 ft 4 in (114.40 m)
Beam72 ft 3 in (22.02 m)
Draft23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Installed power5 boilers, 12,179 ihp (9,082 kW)
Propulsion2 VTE engines, 2 propeller shafts
Speed16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph)
Complement60 officers and 514 enlisted men
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 5–16.5 in (127–419 mm)
  • Barbettes: 12.5–15 in (318–381 mm)
  • Turret (primary): 15–17 in (381–432 mm)
  • Turret (secondary): 6–11 in (152–279 mm)
  • Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm)

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.