Kearsarge-class battleship

The USS Kearsarge - the lead ship of the class
Class overview
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	USS Iowa (BB-4)
Succeeded by	Illinois class
Completed	2
Retired	2
Preserved	0
General characteristics
Type	Kearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleships
Displacement	Standard: 11,540 tons
Length	375 ft 3 in
Beam	72 ft 3 in
Draft	23 ft 5 in
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement	553 officers and men
Armament	* Main guns: 4 × 13-inch (330 mm) guns Secondary guns: 4 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns and 14 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns Light guns: 20 × 6-pounder guns and 8 × 1-pounder guns Machine guns: 4 × .30-caliber machine guns

The Kearsarge class was a two-ship class of battleships built for the United States Navy at the beginning of the 20th century. Its first ship, the USS Kearsarge, was commissioned in 1900. The lead ship of this class, USS Kearsarge, was the only United States battleship not named for a state.

Ship history

This class of battleships was the first in the U.S. Navy to carry the unusual double-decker turret layout both forward and aft. This arrangement suffered from firing interference between the 13 inch primary guns and the 8 inch secondary guns, and was not used frequently afterwards. Also, this class is distinguishable as the last to sport so-called "cheesebox" turret shapes. These turrets were descendants of the first-generation USS Monitor design by John Ericsson during the American Civil War. These "cheesebox" turrets mounted their guns far in the back of the turret, requiring a large vulnerable opening to accommodate gun elevation and severely limiting the maximum elevation of the weapons. Subsequent ships used box-shaped "British-style" turrets with canted, rear-sloping fronts, which were far easier to protect and far more efficient and allowed for much higher elevation.

Both ships of this class were removed from the Navy as fighting vessels by the Washington Naval Treaty, after which Kentucky was scrapped, and Kearsarge was converted into a floating shipyard crane.

Ships in class

USS Kearsarge

USS Kearsarge

• Designation: BB-5 (AB-1 from 5 August 1920)
• Laid down: 30 June 1896
• Launched: 24 March 1898
• Commissioned: 20 February 1900
• Operations: North Atlantic Fleet, Great White Fleet, World War I training operations
• Victories: None
• Fate: Decommissioned 10 May 1920 for conversion to a crane ship, renamed Crane Ship 1 6 November 1941 until struck from the Naval Vessel Register 22 June 1955.

USS Kentucky

USS Kentucky

• Designation: BB-6
• Laid down: 30 June 1896
• Launched: 24 March 1898
• Commissioned: 16 May 1900
• Operations: Asiatic Fleet, Great White Fleet, World War I training operations
• Victories: None
• Fate: Decommissioned 29 May 1920 and sold for scrap 23 January 1924

See also

• List of battleships of the United States Navy
• List of ship launches in 1898
• List of ship commissionings in 1900
• List of ship decommissionings in 1920