USS Kentucky (BB-66)

Kentucky under construction; the round barbettes which would have held her 16-inch (406 mm) main battery are prominent
History
United States
Namesake	State of Kentucky
Ordered	9 September 1940
Builder	Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Laid down	7 March 1942
Launched	20 January 1950
Completed	Not completed
Reclassified	BBG-1 from BB-66
Stricken	9 June 1958
Fate	Sold for scrapping 31 October 1958
General characteristics (as planned)
Class and type	Iowa-class battleship
Displacement	45,000 long tons (46,000 t) light 55,250 long tons (56,140 t) full load
Length	887 ft 3 in (270.43 m)
Beam	108 ft 2 in (32.97 m)
Draft	35 ft 10 in (10.92 m) (full load)
Installed power	212,000 shp (158,000 kW)
Speed	33 kn (38 mph; 61 km/h)
Complement	151 officers, 2,637 enlisted
Armament	9 × 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns 20 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12 guns 80 × 40 mm/56 cal anti-aircraft guns 49 × 20 mm/70 cal anti-aircraft guns
Armor	Belt: 12.1 in (307 mm) Bulkheads: 14.5 in (368 mm) Barbettes: 11.6 to 17.3 in (295 to 439 mm) Turrets: 19.5 in (495 mm) Decks: main 1.5 in (38 mm) second 6.0 in (152 mm)
Aircraft carried	3 × Vought OS2U Kingfisher/Curtiss SC Seahawk floatplanes

USS^[a] Kentucky (BB-66) was an uncompleted battleship intended to be the last ship of the Iowa class. Hull BB-66 was originally to be the second ship of the Montana-class battleships. However, the urgent need for more warships at the outbreak of World War II and the U.S. Navy's experiences in the Pacific theater led it to conclude that rather than battleships larger and more heavily armed than the Iowa class, it quickly needed more fast battleships of that class to escort the new Essex-class aircraft carriers being built. As a result, hulls BB-65 and BB-66 were reordered and laid down as Iowa-class battleships in 1942.

As such, she was intended to be the sixth and final member of the Iowa-class constructed. At the time of her construction she was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Like her sister ship Illinois, laid down as one of the last pair of Iowa-class ahead of her, Kentucky was still under construction at the end of hostilities and became caught up in the post-war draw-down of the armed services. Her construction was suspended twice, during which times she served as a parts hulk. In the 1950s, several proposals were made to complete the ship as a guided missile battleship, abandoned primarily due to cost concerns and the rapid pace of evolving missile technology. Kentucky ultimately was sold for scrap in 1958.
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