USS Kearsarge (BB-5)

	Kearsarge in 1899
History
United States
Name	Kearsarge
Namesake	USS Kearsarge
Ordered	2 March 1895
Awarded	2 January 1896
Builder	Newport News SB&DD
Laid down	30 June 1896
Launched	24 March 1898
Commissioned	20 February 1900
Decommissioned	4 September 1909
Recommissioned	23 June 1915
Decommissioned	10 or 18 May 1920
Renamed	Crane Ship No. 1, 6 November 1941
Reclassified	IX-16, 17 July 1920; AB-1, 5 August 1920;
Stricken	22 June 1955
Fate	Sold for scrap, 9 August 1955
General characteristics
Class & type	Kearsarge-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	11,540 long tons (11,730 t)
Length	375 ft 4 in (114.40 m)
Beam	72 ft 3 in (22.02 m)
Draft	23 ft 6 in (7.16 m)
Installed power	5 Scotch marine boilers ; 10,000 ihp (7,500 kW);
Propulsion	2 triple-expansion steam engines, 2 propeller shafts
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Range	5,316 nmi (9,845 km; 6,118 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	40 officers and 514 enlisted men
Armament	4 × 13"/35 caliber gun (330 mm); 4 × 8"/35 caliber gun (203 mm); 14 × 5"/40 caliber gun (127 mm); 20 × 6-pounders (2.2 in or 57 mm); 8 × 1-pounders (1.5 in or 37 mm); 4 × .30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns; 4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes;
Armor	Belt: 4–16.5 in (102–419 mm); Barbettes: 12.5–15 in (318–381 mm); Turrets (primary): 15–17 in (381–432 mm); Turrets (secondary): 6–11 in (152–279 mm); Conning tower: 10 in (254 mm);

USS Kearsarge (hull number: BB-5), was the first ship in the Kearsarge class of pre-dreadnought battleships. Instead of being named after a state, she was named in honor of the Kearsarge, a sloop-of-war that sank CSS Alabama in the Battle of Cherbourg, being the only United States Navy battleship to deviate from the established naming conventions.

Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Virginia, on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow (née Maynard), the wife of Rear Admiral Herbert Winslow, and commissioned on 20 February 1900.

Between 1903 and 1907 Kearsarge served in the North Atlantic Fleet, and from 1907 to 1909 she sailed as part of the Great White Fleet. In 1909 she was decommissioned for modernization, which was finished in 1911. In 1915 she served in the Atlantic, and between 1916 and 1919 she served as a training ship. She was converted into a crane ship in 1920, renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, and sold for scrap in 1955.