USS Kearsarge (BB-5, AB-1, later Crane Ship 1)

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The USS Kearsarge, built starting in 1896, is unique in that it was the only US battleship not named after a state of the union. A special act of Congress directed the Navy to name the ship in honor of the famous Union Civil War sloop-of-war, which had defeated the famed Confederate raider Alabama. The original Kearsarge had been wrecked on a coral reef after a long and successful career, and could not be salvaged.

USS Kearsarge and her sister USS Kentucky were designed under the restriction that draft could not exceed 23 feet, somewhat less than that of preceding classes, to allow them to better operate in coastal waters. This restriction was quickly dropped, but not before it had caused some novel design features to be adopted. Freeboard was reduced , and the number of intermediate guns was cut in half, compared to preceding classes. The most obvious novelty of the design was the gun turrets. In order to save weight, the intermediate guns were mounted on top of the main guns, in novel two-story turrets. This reduced the number of barbettes and magazines, reducing draft considerably. The 8-inch guns could fire three times as fast as the 13-inch main guns, so the idea was that the turrets would trane on a second target and fire the lighter guns twice before returning to the main target to fire both heavy and light guns. This arrangement proved to be unsatisfactory, as better training and loading equipment cut the firing cycle of the heavy guns. Also, the combined blast of all four guns was too severe, and the loading arrangements were overly complex.

Kearsarge sailed around the World with the Great White Fleet, and was inactive from 1909 to 1914, but was modified in 1912 with cage masts and new boilers. She served off Mexico in 1914-15, and was then relegated to training duties. She was used to train thousands of armed guard crews, gunners, and marine engineers during the war. She was used for the Naval Academy Midshipman's cruise in 1919, and was then taken out of service in 1920.

The old ship was to soon start a second career, however. She was taken in hand at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in May, 1920, where she was converted into an auxiliary vessel. Her military equipment was removed, huge side blisters were added for stability, and a giant 250-ton, 360-degree revolving crane was installed. Designated USS Kearsarge AB-1, she was recommissioned in 1922 into a valuable role that she would serve in, with distinction, for the next 35 years.

The now 10,000 ton crane ship assisted with many construction and refit projects over the years, and was in demand on both coasts. She spend much of the early 1930's on the West Coast at Puget Sound Navy Yard, where her huge lifting capacity made light work our of removing turret roofs to re-gun battleships, and then returned to the East Coast. In 1938 was used to raise intact the sunken submarine Squalus, which had sunk off the New Hampshire coast in a training accident. Over the years her seldom-used engines deteriorated, and eventually became useless. But this was irrelevant in most of her chores, as delicate maneuvers were best left to assisting tug boats. Sometime in the 1930s her propellers were removed to make her easier to tow. In November of 1941 the ship was renamed Crane Ship 1, so that the name Kearsarge could be given to a new Essex Class aircraft carrier. During most of the war she was used in a variety of East Coast shipyards, then she returned to the West Coast from 1945 to 1948.

During the war the crane ship provided invaluable service during the construction of the battleships Alabama and Indiana, installing heavy turrets, guns, and armor. Similar assistance was rendered to the cruisers Chicago and Savannah, and the Pearl Harbor veterain Pennsylvania. While in San Fransisco she helped construct the carriers Hornet, Boxer, and Saratoga.

In 1948 she was towed to the Boston Navy Shipyard, where she finished out her career. She allowed this shipyard to do billions of dollars worth of big jobs that otherwise would have gone to other yards, and it was a sad day when she was stricken from the Navy list on June 25, 1955, her equipment too worn out for further service. She was sold on August 9 to Patapsco Scrap Company, and towed to Baltimore to be cut up.

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