USS Kentucky BB-6

David Latuch

Posted: August 30th, 2017, 5:24 pm

Posts: 1341
Joined: January 16th, 2014, 1:02 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Darthpanda asked me to draw the USS Kentucky (BB-6) ca 1912 from his original drawing of her sistership USS Kearsarge (BB-5) as commissioned. . .here she is.

USS Kearsarge (BB-5) 1900

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USS Kentucky (BB-6) was the second and final Kearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the United States Navy. The Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Virginia laid down her keel on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Miss Christine Bradley, daughter of Kentucky Governor William O'Connell Bradley. She was commissioned on 15 May 1900.

Kentucky, like USS Kearsarge, had two double turrets, with two 13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns and two 8 in (203 mm)/40 caliber guns each, stacked on two levels. The guns and turret armor were designed by the Bureau of Ordnance, while the turret itself was designed by the Bureau of Construction and Repair. The configuration caused the guns to be mounted far back in the turret, making the ports very large. Admiral William Sims claimed that as a result of the gun mounting, a shell fired into the port could reach the magazines below, disabling the guns. In addition to these guns, Kentucky carried fourteen 5 in (127 mm)/40 caliber guns, twenty 6-pounder (57 mm or 2.2 in) guns, eight 1-pounder (37 mm or 1.5 in) guns, four .30 in (7.6 mm) machine guns, and four 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. Kentucky had a very low freeboard, often making her guns unusable during bad weather.

The ship's waterline armor belt was 5–16.5 inches (130–420 mm) thick. Her main gun turrets were protected by 15–17 inches (380–430 mm) of armor, while the secondary turrets had 6–11 inches (150–280 mm) of armor. The barbettes were 12.5–15 inches (320–380 mm) thick, and the conning tower had 10 inches (250 mm) of armor. The ship's armor was made of harveyized steel.

As with most of the Great White Fleet ships, Kentucky was modernized on her return to the United Stats. She was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 28 August 1909, and her modernization was completed in 1911, at a cost of $675,000. The ship received cage masts, new water-tube boilers, and another four 5-inch guns. The 1-pounder guns were removed, as were sixteen of the 6-pounders. On 4 June 1912, she was recommissioned in the Second Reserve, and on 31 May 1913 she was transferred to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in Philadelphia. She was recommissioned again at Philadelphia on 23 June 1915.
Excerpted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kentucky_(BB-6)

Here is USS Kentucky (BB-6)

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For some reason Dropbox's limks aren't working.

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Last edited by David Latuch on August 30th, 2017, 7:40 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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