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USS Kentucky, a 11,520-ton Kearsarge class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned in May 1900. Her first active service was on the Asiatic Station between October 1900 and May 1904, transiting between the United States and the Far East via the Suez Canal at both ends of that deployment. Kentucky operated along the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean area from 1905 to late 1907. She then participated in the "Great White Fleet" cruise around the World, visiting South America, the U.S. west coast, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, China, Ceylon and the Mediterranean before returning to Hampton Roads, Virginia, in February 1909.
Kentucky was out of commission between August 1909 and June 1912, during which time she was modernized, receiving two of the new "cage" masts. She was again inactive in 1913-15, then operated in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas until the U.S. entered the First World War. During that conflict, Kentucky served as a training ship in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. With the return of peace, she briefly remained in service, making a Naval Academy Midshipmen's cruise to Panama in mid-1919. USS Kentucky decommissioned in May 1920 and was sold for scrapping in January 1924.
This page features a special selection of photographs of USS Kentucky, plus links to additional views.
For more extensive pictorial coverage of USS Kentucky
(BB-6), see:
USS Kentucky in 1900-1909;
USS Kentucky in 1900-1909, part II;
USS Kentucky in 1909-1920;
USS Kentucky On Board and Close Up
Views and
USS Kentucky Miscellaneous Items.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
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Photo #: NH 92507 USS Kentucky (BB-6) Photographed in July 1900, a few months after she was commissioned. Courtesy of the Filson Club, Louisville, KY. Gift of Mrs. Alexander M. Watson. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 91KB; 595 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 61239 USS Kentucky (BB-6) Photographed circa 1905-08, after being repainted with buff color above the first superstructure deck and white below that level. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52045 USS Kentucky (BB-6) Off New York City during a Naval Review, circa 1912. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 570 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 60354 USS Kentucky (BB-6) Photographed circa 1918, while serving as a training ship. Most of her main deck 5-inch guns have been removed, leaving only those in the corners. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 615 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52044 USS Kentucky (BB-6) Ship's officers, crew and Marines, circa 1914. Most of the Marines are wearing khaki field uniforms. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 145KB; 740 x 605 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 92506 USS Kentucky (BB-6) Ready for launching at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, 24 March 1898. Note chalk marks on her hull plating, indicating the planned location of fittings and gun ports. Courtesy of the Filson Club, Louisville, KY. Gift of Salem H. Ford. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
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For more extensive pictorial coverage of USS Kentucky
(BB-6), see:
USS Kentucky in 1900-1909;
USS Kentucky in 1900-1909, part II;
USS Kentucky in 1909-1920;
USS Kentucky On Board and Close Up
Views and
USS Kentucky Miscellaneous Items.
Return to Naval
Historical Center home page.5 February 1999