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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

BB-5 USS KEARSARGE
1896 - 1902


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1903 - 1909
1910 - 1919
1920 - 1955


Kearsarge Class Battleship: Displacement 11,525 Tons, Dimensions, 375' 4" (oa) x 72' 3" x 25' 10" (Max), Armament 4 x 13"/35 4 x 8"/35, 14 x 5"/40 4 x 18" tt, Armor, 16 1/2" Belt, 17" Turrets, 5" Decks, 10" Conning Tower, Machinery, 10,000 IHP; 2 vertical triple expanison engines, 2 screws, Speed, 16 Knots, Crew 553.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA., on June 30, 1896. Launched March 24, 1898, Commissioned February 20, 1900, Decommissioned September 4, 1909, Recommissioned June 17, 1912, Decommissioned May 18, 1920, Converted at Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard into Crane Ship and redesignated AB-1, August 5, 1920. Renamed Crane Ship 1, November 6, 1941 to free name for new construction. Stricken June 22, 1955.
Fate: Sold August 9, 1955 and broken up for scrap.
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BB-5 Kearsarge 45k Kearsarge (BB-5) and Kentucky (BB-6). General arrangement plan for the main deck, as designed. Copied from Transactions Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Volume 3, 1895. Photo # NH 76631, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 123k Kearsarge (BB-5) and Kentucky (BB-6). Midship section plan, through the conning tower at Frame 33, showing the ships as designed. The arrangement of armor is depicted, along with one 5"/40 broadside gun, an 18-inch above-water torpedo tube, and the steering wheels in both the armored conning tower and the pilothouse. Copied from R. Robinson, Naval Construction, 4th Edition, 1917, page 160-61. Photo # NH 76632, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
Kearsarge & Kentucky 100k Very strong wooden launching struts hold up over 11,500 tons of Kearsarge (BB-5) on March 24, 1898, Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA. The mast of the Kentucky (BB-6) appears on the other side of the launching platform on this very busy day at Newport News Shipbuilding which saw both battleships slide into the waters of the James River. Both battleships had their keels laid and were launched on the same day. USN / USNI photo.
BB-5 Kearsarge 66k Kearsarge (BB-5) and Kentucky (BB-6). Outboard profile plan, October 1899, showing the ships as built. It includes a wave profile based on trials of Kearsarge at a speed of 17.3 knots. The original plan is in Record Group 45, U.S. National Archives. Photo # NH 76628, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 51k Kearsarge (BB-5) and Kentucky (BB-6). Inboard profile plan, 1899, showing the ships as built. It includes general arrangement of the ammunition hoists that supplied the superimposed 13-inch and 8-inch gun turrets. The original plan is in Record Group 45, U.S. National Archives. Photo # NH 76629, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 36k Kearsarge (BB-5) and Kentucky (BB-6). Armor plan, 1899, showing the distribution of side and turret armor. The original plan # 143-10-31 in Record Group 19, U.S. National Archives. Photo # NH 76630, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 51k Kearsarge (BB-5) as completed, line drawing by A.D. Baker III. Photo and text courtesy of U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.
BB-5 Kearsarge 56k Inboard profile of the Kearsarge (BB-5) as completed. Photo and text courtesy of U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.
BB-5 Kearsarge 48k Cross section of the Kearsarge (BB-5) as completed, at her engine room. Note the trainable above water torpedo tube, about the same size as a secondary battery gun. Photo and text courtesy of U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.
BB-5 Kearsarge 106k A smoky Kearsarge (BB-5) underway during her shakedown period, poses for the photographer Enrique Miller while underway during 1899, a short time before her formal commissioning.USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
BB-5 Kearsarge 27k Kearsarge (BB-5) between 1898 and 1901. LOC # LC-D43-15125.
BB-5 Kearsarge 73k Kearsarge (BB-5) at anchor, between 1898 and 1901. Note that she is painted white from her main and lower decks down. Her paint scheme changed when she visited Europe in 1903, when the main deck and up were painted a buff color.Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
BB-5 Kearsarge 79k Halftone of a photograph taken in 1899, while the ship was making 16.82 knots on trials off the U.S. East Coast. Note that her broadside battery of five-inch guns had not yet been installed. Copied from "The New Navy of the United States", by N.L. Stebbins, (New York, 1912). Photo # NH 98372, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 76k Kearsarge (BB-5), in drydock after completing her trial run, September 1899. The forward extension of her main belt can be seen to end just abaft the draft numerals on her bow. Note the two short bilge keels further aft. Her bridge is basically similar to those of her predecessors. Note the canvas bucklers that have been installed on her forward 13-inch gun ports. The broadside 5-inch battery is not yet in place. Photo # 19-N-1-22-1 from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
BB-5 Kearsarge 98k In drydock during her trials period, 18 September 1899. Photograph # NH 19-N-1-22-3, from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
BB-5 Kearsarge 171k Port bow at warf, September 18 1899. National Archives photo # 181-NYS-15-4.
BB-5 Kearsarge 190k Kearsarge (BB-5), stern view, between 1898 and 1901 Possibly by Edward H. Hart. Library of Congress # LC-D428-658.
BB-5 Kearsarge 14k Kearsarge (BB-5) between 1898 and 1901. Possibly by Edward H. Hart. USN / Library of Congress # LC-D428-659.
BB-5 Kearsarge 77k View of the main and secondary forward batteries of the Kearsarge (BB-5), 8. Apr. 1900, by Edward H. Hart. USN / Library of Congress # LC-D4-20480.
BB-5 Kearsarge 25k Bow on view of the Kearsarge (BB-5), 8 Apr. 1900, by Edward H. Hart. USN / Library of Congress # LC-D4-20476.
BB-5 Kearsarge 77k Broadside view Kearsarge (BB-5) 1900 or 1901 by Edward H. Hart. USN / Library of Congress # LC-D4-21073.
BB-5 Kearsarge 93k In a harbor, circa the early 1900s. Kearsarge (BB-5) was painted this way when first completed, in 1900, and this view may have been taken at about that time. Photo # NH 52034, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 108k Color-tinted postcard published during the early 1900s, showing the ship as she appeared when first completed in 1900. Photographed by William H. Rau. Photo # NH 52031-KN, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 113k Returning on board a U.S. Navy battleship, circa the early 1900s. The photograph was printed at about that time, in color-tinted form, on a postal card published by the Hugh C. Leighton Company, Portland, Maine. The original postal card's caption erroneously identifies the ship as Maine (BB-10). She is actually Kearsarge (BB-5) or her sister ship, Kentucky (BB-6). Photo # NH 94963-KN, from the collections of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
BB-5 Kearsarge 81k A circa 1900's postcard of the Kearsarge (BB-5) drawn by Edward H. Mitchell Publishers of San Francisco, CA.Photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
BB-5 Kearsarge 60k A circa 1900's photo showing the loading an 8" (20.3 cm) projectile aboard Kearsarge (BB-5). USN photo courtesy of navweaps.com. Photo added 04/05/06.

Additional Kearsarge Images
15 General Views Of Kearsarge From The Library Of Congress Server.

USS KEARSARGE BB-5 History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable To This Ship
Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Battleship Pages By Andrew Toppan.
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