USS Kentucky (BB-6)

USS Kentucky, circa 1915-1920
History
United States
Name	Kentucky
Namesake	State of 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	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) 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.