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Statistics:
Displacement: 11,540 tons
Length: 375'4"
Beam: 72'3"
Draft: 23'6"
Speed: 16 knots
Complement: 553
Armament: Four 13" guns; four 8" guns; fourteen 5" guns; twenty 6-pounders; eight 1-pounders; four .30-cal machine guns
Class: Kearsarge
Text from The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships published by the Naval Historical Center
The second Kearsarge, named by act of Congress to commemorate
the famed steam sloop-of-war, was launched 24 March 1898 by the
Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.; sponsored by
Mrs. Herbert Winslow, daughter-in-law of Kearsarge's commander,
Captain John A. Winslow, during her famous battle with Alabama;
and commissioned 20 February 1900, Captain William M. Folger in
command.
Kearsarge became flagship of the North Atlantic Station,
cruising down the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean. From 3
June 1903 to 26 July 1903 she served briefly as flagship of the
European Squadron while on a cruise that took her first to Kiel,
Germany. She was visited by the German Emperor 25 June 1903 and
by the Prince of Wales 13 July. She returned to Bar Harbor,
Maine, 26 July 1903 and resumed duties as flagship of the North
Atlantic Fleet. She sailed from New York 1 December 1903 for
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where, on 10 December, the United States
took formal possession of the Guantanamo Naval Reservation.
Following maneuvers in the Caribbean, she led the North Atlantic
Battleship Squadron to Lisbon where she entertained the King of
Portugal, 11 June 1904. She next steamed to Phaleron Bay,
Greece, where she celebrated the Fourth of July with the King,
Prince Andrew, Princess Alice of Greece. The squadron paid
goodwill calls at Corfu, Trieste, and Fiume before returning to
Newport, R.I., 29 August 1904.
Kearsarge remained flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet until
relieved 31 March by battleship Maine, but continued operations
with the fleet. During target practice off Cape Cruz, Cuba, 13
April 1906, an accidental ignition of a powder charge of a 13-
inch gun killed two officers and eight men. Four men were
seriously injured. Attached to the 2d Squadron, 4th Division,
she sailed 16 December 1907 with the "Great White Fleet" of
battleships, sent around the world by President Theodore
Roosevelt. She sailed from Hampton Roads around the coasts of
South America to the western seaboard, thence to Hawaii,
Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Japan. From there,
Kearsarge proceeded to Ceylon, transited the Suez Canal, and
visited ports of the Mediterranean, before returning to the
eastern seaboard of the United States. President Theodore
Roosevelt reviewed the Fleet as it passed into the Hampton Roads
22 February 1909, having completed a world cruise of
overwhelming success, showing the flag and spreading good will.
This dramatic gesture impressed the world with the power of the
U.S. Navy.
Kearsarge decommissioned in the Philadelphia Navy Yard 4
September 1909 for modernization. She recommissioned 23 June
1915 for operations along the Atlantic coast until 17 September
when she departed Philadelphia to land a detachment of Marines
at Vera Cruz, Mexico. She remained off Vera Cruz from 28
September 1915 to 5 January 1916, then carried the Marines to
New Orleans before joining the Atlantic Reserve Fleet 4 February
1916 at Philadelphia. She trained Massachusetts and Maine State
Naval Militia until America entered World War I, then trained
thousands of armed guard crews as well as naval engineers in
waters along the East Coast ranging from Boston to Pensacola. On
the evening of 18 August 1918, Kearsarge rescued 26 survivors of
Norwegian Bark Nordhav which had been sunk by German Submarine
U-117. The survivors were landed in Boston.
Kearsarge continued as engineering training ship until 29 May
1919 when she embarked Naval Academy Midshipmen for training in
the West Indies. The midshipmen were debarked at Annapolis 29
August and Kearsarge proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard,
where she decommissioned 10 May 1920 for conversion to a crane
ship and a new career. She was designated AB-1 5 August 1920.
In place of military trappings, Kearsarge received an immense
revolving crane with a rated lifting capacity of 250 tons, as
well as hull "blisters," which gave her more stability. The
10,000-ton crane ship rendered invaluable service for the next
20 years. One of many accomplishments was the raising of sunken
submarine Squalus off the New Hampshire coast. On 6 November
1941 she was designated Crane Ship No. 1, giving up her
illustrious name which was assigned to a mighty aircraft
carrier. But she continued her yeoman service and made many
contributions to the American victories of World War II. She
handled guns, turrets, armor and other heavy lifts for new
battleships such as USS Indiana (BB 58) and USS Alabama (BB 60); cruisers USS Savannah (CL 42) and
USS Chicago (CA 29); and guns on the veteran battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB 38).
In 1945 the crane ship was towed to the San Francisco Naval
Shipyard where she assisted in the construction of carriers. She departed the west coast in 1948
to finish her career in the Boston Naval Shipyard. Joe McDonald,
master rigger, described her as "a big gray hulk of a thing"
which was "pulled around by two or three tugs" on the job; "But
the old girl has brought millions of dollars worth of business
to Boston. Without her we would never have been able to do many
of the big jobs that cost millions of dollars." As one example,
he recalled that the former battleship lifted a gantry crane
intact at the South Boston Naval Drydocks and transporting it to
Charleston where she placed it on crane tracks to be driven
away.
As Crane Ship No. 1, her name was struck from the Navy
List 22 June 1955. She was sold for scrapping 9 August 1955.
-USN-
Updated: 17 May 2000
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