USS Kentucky (BB-66)

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For other ships of the same name, see USS Kentucky.
 It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Iowa class battleship. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2012.
Black and white photograph of a ship under construction. The ship has not been fitted with its deck, and there are three large circular holes in the superstructure visible.
USS Kentucky under construction. The barbettes which would have held the gun turrets are prominent.
Career (US)
Ordered: 9 September 1940
Builder: Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Laid down: 12 June 1944
Launched: Canceled prior to launch
Struck: 9 June 1958
Fate: Sold for scrapping 31 October 1958
General characteristics
Class and type: Iowa-class battleship
Displacement: 45,000 tons (planned)
Length: 887 ft 3 in (270.43 m) (planned)
Beam: 108 ft 2 in (32.97 m) (planned)
Speed: 33 kn (38 mph; 61 km/h) (planned)
Complement: 151 officers, 2,637 enlisted (planned)
Armament: (planned)
Armor:

USS[a] Kentucky (BB-66) was to be the sixth and final Iowa-class battleship constructed for the United States Navy; she was the second ship to be named in honor of Kentucky. Among the Iowa-class battleships, Kentucky is notable for being the last authorized Iowa-class battleship, and for being the only ship of the class considered for a guided missile rebuild.

Hull BB-66 was originally to be the second ship of the Montana-class battleships. However, the U.S. Navy's experiences in World War II led it to conclude that it required more fast battleships to escort the new Essex-class aircraft carriers that were being built. As a result, Kentucky was reordered as an Iowa-class battleship midway through the war. Like her sister ship Illinois, Kentucky was still under construction at the end of hostilities and was caught up in the post-war drawdown of the armed services. Her construction was suspended twice, during which times she served as a spare parts cache of sorts. Kentucky was sold for scrap in 1958 after several failed attempts to have her completed as a guided missile battleship.

Contents

[edit] Background

Main article: Armament of the Iowa class battleship

Kentucky was one of the "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was to be the sixth and final ship of the Iowa class of battleships.[1] Like Illinois, Kentucky differed from her earlier sisters in that her design called for an all welded construction. This would have saved weight and increased strength over a combination riveted/welded hull of the type used on the four completed Iowa-class ships. It was proposed that the hulls of Illinois and Kentucky be redesigned with greater torpedo protection, which would have been a 20% improvement over the system used aboard the South Dakotas and the first four Iowas in addition to reducing flooding in the event of a torpedo strike; it is unclear if this was adopted.[2]

Like her Iowa-class sisters, Kentucky's construction began in response to the need for fast escorts for the Essex-class aircraft carriers. She was conceived in 1935, when the United States Navy initiated design studies for the creation of an extended South Dakota class that was not restricted by the Second London Naval Treaty. The latter four Iowa class battleships (Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois and Kentucky) were not cleared for construction until 12 July 1940,[3] and at the time Illinois and Kentucky were to be larger, slower battleships mounting twelve 16 in (410 mm) Mark 7 guns.[b][4]

[edit] Construction

By late 1939, it had become apparent that the navy needed as many fast battleships as possible and it was decided that BB-65 and BB-66 would follow the same design as their sisters.[c][not in citation given][d] Kentucky's main battery would have consisted of nine 16 in (410 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns, which could hurl 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) armor-piercing shells some 20 mi (32 km). Her secondary battery would have consisted of 20 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal guns arranged in 10 gun turrets, which could fire at targets up to 10 mi (16 km) away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of Allied aircraft carriers. To this end, Kentucky was to be fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend allied carriers from enemy airstrikes.[5]

Black and white photo of a white ship on a body of water with several smaller ships near it. Industrial buildings are visible behind the ships.
The hull of the incomplete Kentucky is floated out of drydock to allow USS Missouri (BB-63) to drydock for repairs

Kentucky's construction was plagued by suspensions. Her keel was laid down at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia on 7 March 1942.[1] However, work on the ship was suspended in June that year when Kentucky's bottom structure was launched to make room for LST construction.[1][6]

Kentucky's construction resumed on 6 December 1944 with a new keel laying, but work on the battleship proceeded at a slow pace. In December 1945 it was recommended that Kentucky be completed as an anti-aircraft battleship, and work on the ship was suspended in August 1946 while this was considered. Construction resumed again on 17 August 1948 without any decision having been made on her final design.[1] Work on Kentucky continued until 20 January 1950, when it was decided to cancel the ship.[citation needed] Following this, she was floated out of her drydock to clear a space for repairs to sister ship Missouri, which had run aground en route from Hampton Roads.[7][8]

[edit] Fate

Kentucky was never completed, instead serving as a supply cache of sorts while in the mothball fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from about 1950 to 1958.[9] It was during this time that several plans were proposed to complete Kentucky as a guided missile battleship[9] (BBG) by removing the aft turret and installing a missile system.[citation needed] Since the battleship was already 73.1% complete (construction had been halted at the 1st deck),[10] installation of the missile system would have involved only adding the necessary equipment without any need to rebuild the battleship to accommodate the system.[e]

In May or June 1956, Kentucky's bow was removed and transported on a large crane barge from Newport News, Virginia, where she had been towed, back to Norfolk Naval Shipyard,[citation needed] to be used in the repair of Wisconsin, which had been damaged in a collision with Eaton[9] on 6 May 1956. A new bow was fabricated but never installed; it was stored on her deck until the hulk was towed away.[11] Kentucky was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 June 1958 and her incomplete hulk was sold for scrapping to Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland, on 31 October.[10][12]

When the first two of the Sacramento-class fast combat support ships, Sacramento and Camden, were laid down in 1961 and 1964, the Navy used Kentucky's four turbine sets to power the ships. This would later prove to be a beneficial move: when the Navy switched from 600 psi (4.1 MPa) boilers to 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) boilers, sailors who had served aboard these Sacramentos were posted to operate the older boilers aboard New Jersey during her combat tour in the Vietnam War and aboard all four of the Iowas when recalled and modernized in the 1980s as part of the 600-ship Navy plan.[9]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Although the Kentucky was never commissioned by the U.S. Navy, and therefore did not officially receive the USS ship prefix, she is conventionally referred to as USS Kentucky.
  2. ^ This was not the first time that changes to the Iowa-class had been proposed: at the time the battleships were cleared for construction some policymakers were not sold on the US need for more battleships, and proposed turning the Iowa-class ships into aircraft carriers by retaining the hull design but switching their decks to carry and handle aircraft (This had already been done on the battlecruisers Lexington and Saratoga). This proposal was countered by Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations. "BB-61 Iowa-class Aviation Conversion". http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/bb-61-av.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-19. 
  3. ^ At the time, the Montana class was planned to begin with hull number BB-65, rather than BB-67 as it became after two more Iowas were ordered as BB-65 and BB-66. See Iowa Class (BB-61 through BB-66) Drawings.
  4. ^ The design originally intended for BB-65 and BB-66 was to be implemented in the Montana-class battleships. The Montanas would have had 12 16 in (410 mm) guns in four triple turrets and heavier armor at the price of a slower top speed than the Iowa-class.
  5. ^ The addition of missiles to a battleship had already been done aboard the battleship Mississippi (BB-41/AG-128) to test the terrier missile after World War II. See DANFS Mississippi (BB-41). More recently, this was done to the four completed Iowa-class battleships to allow them to carry and launch BGM-109 Tomahawk Missiles and RGM-84 Harpoon Missiles. (United States General Accounting Office (1981-04-20). "Update of the Issues Concerning the Proposed Reactivation of the Iowa class battleships and the Aircraft Carrier Oriskany" (PDF). United States General Accounting Office. pp. 3–18. http://archive.gao.gov/f0102/115403.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-07. )

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Witley 1998, p. 310.
  2. ^ Friedman 1985, p. 314.
  3. ^ Rogers, p. 8.
  4. ^ DiGiulian, Tony (Last updated 12 November 2006). "United States of America 16"/50 (40.6 cm) Mark 7". Unofficial U.S. Navy site. http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-16. 
  5. ^ Johnston & McAuley 2002, p. 120.
  6. ^ Kentucky (BB-66), 1942–1958.
  7. ^ "USS Missouri (BB-63) (subsection: Accidents aboard USS MISSOURI)". Unofficial site on U.S. Navy. Thoralf Doehring. http://www.navysite.de/bb/bb63.htm. Retrieved 2006-12-15. 
  8. ^ DANFS Missouri (BB-63).
  9. ^ a b c d Rogers, p. 13.
  10. ^ a b NVR Kentucky (BB 66).
  11. ^ hazegray.org USS Kentucky (BB-66) Accessed 2007-11-03
  12. ^ DANFS Kentucky (BB-66).

[edit] Bibliography

Print sources

  • Friedman, Norman (1985). U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-715-1. OCLC 12214729. 
  • Johnston, Ian; McAuley, Rob (2002). The Battleships. London: Channel 4 Books (an imprint of Pan Macmillian). ISBN 0-7522-6188-6. 
  • Witley, M.J. (1998). Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Arms and Armour. ISBN 185409386X. 

Online sources

[edit] Further reading

  • Garzke, William H.; Dulin, Robert O., Jr. (1995). Battleships: United States Battleships 1935–1992. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-174-2. OCLC 29387525. 
  • Sumrall, Robert (1988). Iowa Class Battleships: Their Design, Weapons & Equipment. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-298-2. OCLC 19282922. 

[edit] External links

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