History, Politics And Current Affairs

The Missile Battleship: KENTUCKY (BBG-1)

The IOWA-class battleship KENTUCKY (BB-66) was laid up incomplete at the end of the Second World War. As a large, fast, well-protected, obsolete hull in an advanced state of construction, she was the subject of many proposals for completion to a different design - as an antiaircraft battleship with different types of guns and missiles; as a missile battleship with various combinations of Terrier, Talos, and Tartar surface-to-air missiles and Regulus, Triton, and Polaris strategic missiles, plus some of her gun armament; even as a fast oiler. None of these plans came to fruition; KENTUCKY donated her bow to repair sister ship WISCONSIN (BB-64) when that ship was damaged by collision in 1956, her machinery went into purpose-built fast combat support ships of the SACRAMENTO (AOE-1) class, and what remained was sold for scrap in 1958.

But suppose one of these plans - one of the cheaper, more austere plans - had been carried out. Suppose KENTUCKY had been converted into a Talos-armed missile battleship. What then?

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships That Never Were

KENTUCKY
(as designed)
BB-66
Displacement: 45,000 tons
Length: 887 feet 3 inches
Beam: 108 feet 3 inches
Draft: 28 feet 11 inches (mean)
Speed: 33 knots
Complement: 1,921
Armament: nine 16in/50, twenty 5in/38
Class: IOWA

(as completed)
BBG-1
Displacement: 45,000 tons
Length: 887 feet 3 inches
Beam: 108 feet 3 inches
Draft: 28 feet 11 inches (mean)
Speed: 33 knots
Complement: 1,556
Armament: six 16in/50, twelve 5in/38, twenty 3in/50, one Talos (52 missiles)
Class: KENTUCKY

The second KENTUCKY was laid down as BB-66 at the Norfolk Navy Yard 7 March 1942; launched to clear the slipway for LST construction 10 June 1942; laid down for the second time 6 December 1944; suspended 17 February 1947 when 45% complete; resumed 17 August 1948; launched to clear the building dock 20 January 1950; cancelled 22 January 1950 when 73% complete; converted to a guided-missile battleship at the Norfolk Navy Yard beginning 1 October 1957; and commissioned 31 July 1961, Captain R.W. Morgan in command. She was redesignated BBG-66, 30 September 1957, and BBG-1, 1 November 1958. She was again redesignated BB-66 on 1 July 1981.

Following shakedown off the Virginia Capes, KENTUCKY, the world’s first and only guided-missile battleship, departed Norfolk 1 December 1961 for her maiden deployment to the Sixth Fleet. As flagship of the Sixth Fleet, she spent the next six months cruising the Mediterranean in company with other Sixth Fleet vessels, visiting such ports as Naples, Toulon, Malta, Souda Bay, and Gibraltar before returning to Norfolk in June 1962.

After refitting at Norfolk, KENTUCKY conducted refresher training off the Virginia Capes. In October she was at sea with Atlantic Fleet units during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and on 10 January 1963 she left Norfolk for her second Sixth Fleet deployment, from which she returned on 15 July. She deployed to the Mediterranean again in 1964 and for a fourth time in 1965.

On 15 January 1966, KENTUCKY departed Norfolk bound for Long Beach via the Panama Canal. After several stops in the Caribbean, she reached Long Beach on 1 March. Following two months of training off southern California, KENTUCKY departed Long Beach on 2 May for a deployment to the Western Pacific. After stopovers at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay, she joined the Seventh Fleet off Vietnam on 30 May and fired her first shore bombardment mission two days later. For the next six months she alternated six-week periods on the gunline with two-week R&R periods at Subic Bay, firing more than 4,000 sixteen-inch rounds at Communist targets before returning to Long Beach, which she reached on 24 December. During this deployment she also conducted the first combat firing of Talos-ARM, an anti-radiation variant of the Talos surface-to-air missile which was used against North Vietnamese air defense sites.

After overhaul at Long Beach, KENTUCKY sailed for her second tour of duty off Vietnam on 6 April 1967. In action again by 1 May, she repeated the pattern of her previous tour: six weeks on the gunline, two weeks off, with R&R periods including visits to Subic Bay and Singapore. After firing more than 5,000 sixteen-inch rounds in support of operations against North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, KENTUCKY departed the Western Pacific, spending three days at Yokosuka before reaching Long Beach on 30 November.

Refitted and regunned at Long Beach, on 15 May 1968 KENTUCKY got underway for her third Vietnam deployment. Sailing by way of Hawaii, KENTUCKY fired her first bombardment mission at Viet Cong targets on 16 June. Over the next several months, alternating line periods with R&R at Subic Bay, KENTUCKY fired nearly 6,000 sixteen-inch rounds at enemy targets. She returned to Long Beach on 10 January 1969.

KENTUCKY departed Long Beach for her fourth deployment to Vietnam on 5 April 1969. However, while she was en route to the Western Pacific, North Korean aircraft shot down an EC-121 Constellation electronic surveillance aircraft over the Sea of Japan. Accordingly, KENTUCKY steamed at high speed to Japanese waters, where she joined a Seventh Fleet carrier task force in the Sea of Japan until the crisis lessened.

In action off South Vietnam by 14 May, over the next several months she fired more than 3,000 sixteen-inch rounds against Communist targets. However, political and budgetary considerations cut short her operations: on 21 August, while the ship was at Subic Bay, it was announced that she would be deactivated, and on 30 August she was ordered home. She returned to Long Beach on 27 September, and on 15 October reported to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for inactivation. She decommissioned there on 17 January 1970.

KENTUCKY left Puget Sound on 27 July 1981 under tow to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, where she spent the next year and a half undergoing an extensive modernization, which included the replacement of her obsolete Talos missile system with Tomahawk and Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles. She was recommissioned at Long Beach on 28 December 1982 in a ceremony attended by President Reagan.

KENTUCKY departed Long Beach for her first deployment since Vietnam on 10 June 1983. After transiting the Panama Canal and making a brief stop at Norfolk, she crossed the Atlantic and entered the Mediterranean. At Gaeta, Italy, on 4 July, she relieved destroyer tender PUGET SOUND (AD-38) as Sixth Fleet flagship. Two days later she got underway for Lebanon.

KENTUCKY spent the next several months cruising off the Lebanese coast in support of Marine peacekeepers in Beirut. On 16 September, in company with destroyer JOHN RODGERS (DD-983) and frigate BOWEN (FF-1079), she fired her first shots in anger since Vietnam, silencing artillery that had been bombarding the American ambassador’s residence in Beirut. Three days later she fired in support of Lebanese troops which were under attack by Syrian-backed Palestinian forces, and on 25 September she repeated her performance. After two US aircraft were shot down in early December, on 14 December she fired on Syrian antiaircraft batteries, and she again engaged similar targets on 8 February 1984. After the withdrawal of the Marines from Lebanon, KENTUCKY departed the Mediterranean, returning to Norfolk on 20 March.

Overhauled at Norfolk, KENTUCKY spent the rest of 1984 conducting routine operations in the Atlantic. On 15 February 1985 she got underway for the Mediterranean, and in March relieved CORONADO (AGF-11) as Sixth Fleet flagship at her new home port of Gaeta, Italy, becoming the US Navy’s first and only forward-deployed battleship. She spent the rest of 1985 conducting operations in the Mediterranean Sea, including participation in Operation Red Hat, the interception of the ACHILLE LAURO hijackers in October 1985.

The year 1986 brought more action for KENTUCKY. On 24 March, KENTUCKY and other American warships crossed the so-called “Line of Death” declared by Libyan strongman Mohammar Khadafi in the Gulf of Sidra. That same day, Libyan forces fired surface-to-air missiles at US Navy aircraft operating in international waters. In response, American warplanes fired on Libyan missile sites and sank three Libyan patrol boats. On 14-15 April, in response to further Libyan terrorist activities, American forces carried out Operation El Dorado Canyon, a series of bombing strikes on targets in Libya. As Sixth Fleet flagship, KENTUCKY played a vital role in these operations.

The rest of 1986 was mostly spent conducting normal Sixth Fleet operations. The routine was interrupted in early November when she exercised with battleship MISSOURI (BB-63) in the Eastern Mediterranean, the first time KENTUCKY had ever operated with another battleship. The two battleships visited Istanbul 11-14 November before MISSOURI departed to continue her round-the-world shakedown cruise.

The year 1987 was again spent mostly in routine Sixth Fleet operations, visiting such ports as Istanbul, Souda Bay, Naples, Toulon, Barcelona, and Malta. In September she operated with battleship IOWA (BB-61), and on 10 December KENTUCKY passed the Strait of Gibraltar en route Norfolk.

KENTUCKY spent Christmas 1987 and the first four months of 1988 undergoing restricted availability at Norfolk, the first major overhaul she had received in three years. Back at sea in May 1988, KENTUCKY conducted amphibious exercises at Vieques, Puerto Rico before returning to the Sixth Fleet, of which she again became the flagship on 15 July. She spent the remainder of 1988 and most of 1989 conducting routine operations in the Mediterranean. In December 1989 she served as headquarters ship for President George Bush during the Malta Summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that marked the end of the Cold War.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, KENTUCKY was in port at Gaeta, Italy. Underway two days later, she joined the DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69) Carrier Battle Group in the Eastern Mediterranean and on 7 August transited the Suez Canal. Leaving the EISENHOWER Battle Group behind, on 14 August KENTUCKY transited the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Persian Gulf, temporarily serving as flagship for the Coalition naval blockade of Iraq. Joined by battleship WISCONSIN (BB-64) on 17 August, on 1 September KENTUCKY was relieved by command ship BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). After a brief visit to Bahrain, KENTUCKY departed the Persian Gulf on 4 September, transiting the Suez Canal northbound on 11 September and resuming her duties as Sixth Fleet flagship.

KENTUCKY spent the rest of 1990 in the Mediterranean. On 2 January 1991, she transited the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea. Operating both as an independent unit and with various US carrier battle groups in the Red Sea, KENTUCKY fired eight Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraqi targets on the night of 16-17 January. After expending sixteen more Tomahawks during the next two nights, KENTUCKY again transited the Suez Canal and resumed Mediterranean operations.

KENTUCKY hauled down the flag of Commander, Sixth Fleet for the last time on 12 June 1991. Returning to Norfolk for inactivation, she decommissioned there on 15 December and was subsequently towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for storage. Stricken from the Navy list on 12 January 1995, she was moved to Newport, Rhode Island in 1998, where she remains.

KENTUCKY earned eight battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation for her Vietnam service, two battle stars for her expeditionary service in Lebanon and Libya, and two battle stars for her Southwest Asia service.

Not bad at all!