USS Kentucky (BB-66)

USS [Technically the "USS" should not be in the article title since the battleship was never commissioned; however, the USS has been included here to adhere to the naming conventions on Wikipedia.] "Kentucky" (BB-66) was to be the sixth and final sclass|Iowa|battleship constructed for the United States Navy; she was the second ship to be named in honor of the 15th state. Among the "Iowa"-class battleships, "Kentucky" is notable for being the last authorized "Iowa"-class battleship, and for being the only ship of the class considered for a guided missile rebuild.

Hull BB-66 was originally to be the second ship of the sclass|Montana|battleships, but changes during the Second World War resulted in her being reordered as an sclass|Iowa|battleship midway through the war. This allowed her to gain eight knots in speed, the ability to transit the locks of the Panama Canal, and to increase the number of anti-aircraft guns. The cost was the loss of her additional armor and a reduction in the heavier armaments that were to have been added to BB-66 during her time on the drawing board as a "Montana"-class battleship.

Like her sister ship USS|Illinois|BB-65, "Kentucky" was still under construction at the end of World War II and was caught up in the post-war drawdown of the armed services. Her construction was suspended twice, during which times she served as a spare parts cache of sorts, until being sold for scrap in 1958 after several failed attempts to have her completed as a guided missile battleship.

Background

"Kentucky" was one of the "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was to be the fifth of the six authorized ships of the sclass|Iowa|battleship|4 of battleships. Her keel was laid down at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia on 6 December 1944. Like "Illinois", "Kentucky" differed from her earlier sisters in that her design called for an all welded construction. This would have saved weight and increased strength over a combination riveted/welded hull of the type used on the four completed "Iowa"-class ships. There was thought of redesigning the hull with sclass|Montana|battleship|0 type armor for added torpedo protection (the newer scheme would have improved "Kentucky"’s armor protection by as much as 20%);cite web |url=http://www.battleship.org/html/Articles/IowaClass/Armor.htm |title=Iowa Class: Armor Protection |accessdate=2007-12-22] ; however, this was rejected and "Kentucky" was built along the regular "Iowa" class hull design.cite web |url=http://web.umr.edu/~rogersda/american&military_history/World%27s%20Fastest%20Battleships.pdf |title=Development of the World's Fastest Battleships |accessdate=2007-04-28 |format=pdf |last=Rogers |first=J. David]

Like her "Iowa"-class sisters, "Kentucky"’s construction began in response to the need for fast escorts for the sclass|Essex|aircraft carriers. She was conceived in 1935, when the United States Navy initiated design studies for the creation of an extended "South Dakota" class that was not restricted by the Second London Naval Treaty. The latter four "Iowa" class battleships ("Missouri", "Wisconsin", "Illinois" and "Kentucky") were not cleared for construction until 1940, and at the time "Illinois" and "Kentucky" were to be larger, slower battleship mounting twelve convert|16|in|mm|sing=on Mark 7 guns.cite web | last =DiGiulian | first =Tony | title =United States of America 16"/50 (40.6 cm) Mark 7 | work = Unofficial U.S. Navy site | date = Last updated 12 November 2006 | url =http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.htm | accessdate =2007-01-16] [ This was not the first time that changes to the "Iowa" class had been proposed: at the time the battleships were cleared for construction some policymakers were not sold on the U.S. need for more battleships, and proposed turning the "Iowa"-class ships into aircraft carriers by retaining the hull design but switching their decks to carry and handle aircraft (This had already been done on the battlecruisers USS|Lexington|CV-2|2 and USS|Saratoga|CV-3|2. This proposal was countered by Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations. cite web | title =BB-61 Iowa-class Aviation Conversion | url =http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/bb-61-av.htm | accessdate =2007-05-19] By late 1939, it had become apparent that the navy needed as many fast battleships as possible and it was decided that BB-65 and BB-66 would follow the same design as their sisters. [At the time, the sclass|Montana|battleship|4 was planned to begin with hull number BB-65, rather than BB-67 as it became after two more "Iowa"s were ordered as BB-65 and BB-66. cite web | title =Iowa Class (BB-61 through BB-66) Drawings | url =http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/usnshtp/bb/bb61cl-d.htm | accessdate =2007-11-07] [The design originally intended for BB-65 and BB-66 was to be implemented in the sclass|Montana|battleships. The "Montanas" would have had twelve convert|16|in|mm|sing=on guns and heavier armor and were intended to have a slower top speed than the "Iowa"-class.]

Construction

"Kentucky"’s main battery would have consisted of nine 16 inch (406 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 naval guns, which could hurl convert|2700|lb|abbr=on armor piercing shells some convert|24|mi|km|0. Her secondary battery would have consisted of twenty 5 inch (127 mm)/38 caliber guns arranged in ten gun turrets, which could fire at targets up to convert|9|mi|km|0 away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of allied aircraft carriers. To this end, "Kentucky" was to be fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend allied carriers from enemy airstrikes.cite book | last =Johnston, Ian & McAuley, Rob | title =The Battleships | publisher =Channel 4 Books (an imprint of Pan Macmillian, LTD) | year =2002 | location =London | pages =page 120 | url = http://www.panmacmillan.com/ | id =ISBN 0752261886] cite episode | title = The 10 Greatest Fighting Ships in Military History | network = The Discover Channel]

"Kentucky"’s construction was plagued by suspensions; the first came on 6 June 1942 when "Kentucky" was suspended and her keel floated out of the builder's way to make room for construction of a higher priority ship. "Kentucky"’s construction resumed on 6 December 1944 with a new keel laying, but construction of the battleship was suspended again on 17 February 1947. Her construction resumed once again on 17 August 1948, and continued until her cancellation on 20 January 1950, at which time she was floated out of her drydock to clear a space for repairs to sister ship USS|Missouri|BB-63|2, which had run aground en route from Hampton Roads.cite web | title = USS Missouri (BB-63) (subsection: Accidents aboard USS MISSOURI) | work = Unofficial U.S. Navy site | url = http://www.navysite.de/bb/bb63.htm |publisher=Thoralf Doehring |accessdate=2006-12-15] cite web | title = USS Missouri (BB 63) History | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m12/missouri-iv.htm | work = Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships | publisher= United States Navy | accessdate=2006-12-15]

Fate

"Kentucky" was never completed, instead serving as a supply cache of sorts while in the mothball fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from about 1950 to 1958. It was during this time that several plans were proposed to complete "Kentucky" as a guided missile battleship (BBG) by removing the aft turret and installing a missile system. Since the battleship was already 73.1% complete (construction had been halted at the 1st deck),cite web | title = Naval Vessel Register | url = http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/BB66.htm | work = |publisher= United States Navy | accessdate=2000-11-03] installation of the missile system would have involved only adding the necessary equipment without any need to rebuild the battleship to accommodate the system. [The addition of missiles to a battleship had already been done aboard the battleship USS|Mississippi|BB-41|2 (BB-41/AG-128) to test the terrier missile after World War II. (cite web | title = USS Mississippi (BB 41) History | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m12/mississippi-iii.htm | work = Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher= United States Navy | accessdate=2007-11-07)] [More recently, this was done to the four completed "Iowa"-class battleships to allow them to carry and launch BGM-109 Tomahawk Missiles and RGM-84 Harpoon Missiles. (cite web |url=http://archive.gao.gov/f0102/115403.pdf |title=Update of the Issues Concerning the Proposed Reactivation of the Iowa class battleships and the Aircraft Carrier Oriskany |accessdate=2007-11-07 |author=United States General Accounting Office |authorlink=Government Accountability Office |date=1981-04-20 |format=pdf |publisher=United States General Accounting Office |pages=3–18)] Concept artwork of the proposed missile conversion for "Kentucky" shows her aft end fitted with a pair of RIM-2 Terrier missile launchers, which physically resemble the Mk. 26 twin arm missile launchers that would be installed aboard the first five U.S. sclass|Ticonderoga|cruisers in the early 1980s.

In May or June 1956, "Kentucky’s" bow was removed and transported on a large crane barge from Newport News, Virginia, where she had been towed, back to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, to be used in the repair of USS|Wisconsin|BB-64, which had been damaged in a collision with USS|Eaton|DDE-510 on 6 May 1956. A new bow was fabricated but never installed; it was stored on her deck until the hulk was towed away. [ [http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/battleships/us_wwii.htm hazegray.org] USS Kentucky (BB-66) Accessed 2007-11-03]

When USS|Sacramento|AOE-1|2 and USS|Camden|AOE-2|2, the first two of the sclass|Sacramento|fast combat support ships, were laid down in 1961 and 1964, the Navy turned to "Kentucky"’s four turbine sets to power the ships. This would later prove to be a beneficial move: when the Navy switched from 600 psi boilers to 1,200 psi (4.1 to 8.3 MPa) boilers, sailors who had served aboard these "Sacramentos" were called upon to operate the older boilers aboard USS|New Jersey|BB-62 during her combat tour in the Vietnam War and aboard all four of the "Iowas" when recalled and modernized in the 1980s as part of the 600-ship Navy plan.

"Kentucky" was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 June 1958 and her incomplete hulk was sold for scrapping to Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland, on 31 October.cite web | title = USS Kentucky (BB 66) History | url = http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k3/kentucky.htm | work = Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher= United States Navy | accessdate=2006-01-17] "Kentucky" was the second-to-last battleship under construction by the US Navy,cite web | title = Naval Vessel Register | url = http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/BB65.htm | work = |publisher= United States Navy | accessdate=2000-11-03] and holds the title of being the highest numbered battleship hull to have been under construction but not completed for the United States Navy. USS|Wisconsin|BB-64 is numerically the highest numbered US battleship built, although she was actually completed before USS|Missouri|BB-63, making "Missouri" the last completed US battleship."Wisconsin" was commissioned 16 April 1944 [http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/BB64.htm] while USS "Missouri" was commissioned 11 June 1944 [http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/BB63.htm] ]

Notes

References

*Naval Historical Foundation. "The Navy". Barnes & Noble Inc, China ISBN 0-7607-6218-X
*Keegan, John; Ellis, Chris, and Natkiel, Richard. "World War II: A Visual Encyclopedia" PRC Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85585-878-9
*William H. Garzke and Robert O. Dulin, Jr. "Battleships: United States Battleships 1935–1992"
*Sumrall, Robert. "Iowa Class Battleships: Their Design, Weapons & Equipment." Naval Institute Press, 1988. ISBN 0870212982

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-k/bb66.htm "Kentucky" (BB-66), 1942-1958]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/usnshtp/bb/bb61cl.htm "Iowa"-class (BB-61 through BB-66), 1940 & 1941 Building Programs]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/66.htm NavSource]