USS Kearsarge (BB-5)

Kearsarge in 1899
History
United States
Name	Kearsarge
Namesake	USS Kearsarge
Awarded	2 January 1896
Builder	Newport News SB&DD
Laid down	30 June 1896
Launched	24 March 1898
Commissioned	20 February 1900
Decommissioned	4 September 1909
Recommissioned	23 June 1915
Decommissioned	10 May 1920
Renamed	Crane Ship No. 1, 6 November 1941[a]
Reclassified	IX-16, 17 July 1920; AB-1, 5 August 1920[a]
Stricken	22 June 1955
Fate	Sold for scrap, 9 August 1955
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, 11,674 ihp (8,705 kW)
Propulsion	2 VTE engines, 2 propeller shafts
Speed	17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried	6 cutters, 2 launches, 1 barge, 2 whaleboats, 1 gig, 2 dinghies, 2 catamarans
Complement	40 officers and 514 enlisted men
Armament	4 × 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns 4 × 8 in (203 mm)/35 caliber guns 14 × 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber guns 20 × 6-pounders (57 mm or 2.2 in) 8 × 1-pounders (37 mm or 1.5 in) 4 × .30 in (7.6 mm) machine guns 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 5–16.5 in (127–419 mm) Barbettes: 12.5–15 in (318–381 mm) Turrets (primary): 15–17 in (381–432 mm) Turrets (secondary): 6–11 in (152–279 mm) Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm)

USS Kearsarge (BB-5), was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy and lead ship of her class of battleships. She was named after the sloop-of-war Kearsarge, famous for sinking the CSS Alabama, and was the only United States Navy battleship not named after a state.

Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Virginia, on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow (née Maynard), the wife of Rear Admiral Herbert Winslow, and commissioned on 20 February 1900.

Between 1903 and 1907 Kearsarge served in the North Atlantic Fleet, and from 1907 to 1909 she sailed as part of the Great White Fleet. In 1909 she was decommissioned for modernization, which was finished in 1911. In 1915 she served in the Atlantic, and between 1916 and 1919 she served as a training ship. She was converted into a crane ship in 1920, renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, and sold for scrap in 1955.
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