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USS ''Kentucky'' (BB-66) was to be the sixth and final Iowa battleship constructed for the United States Navy; she was the second ship to be named in honor of Kentucky. Among the ''Iowa''-class battleships, ''Kentucky'' is notable for being the last authorized ''Iowa''-class battleship, and for being the only ship of the class considered for a guided missile rebuild.

Hull BB-66 was originally to be the second ship of the Montana battleships, but the Second World War showed that the US needed more fast battleships to escort the new Essex aircraft carriers that were being built. As a result, ''Kentucky'' was reordered as an Iowa battleship midway through the war. This allowed her to gain eight knots in speed, the ability to transit the locks of the Panama Canal, and increased the number of anti-aircraft guns. The cost was the loss of her additional armor and a main gun turret that were to have been added to BB-66 as a ''Montana''-class battleship.

Like her sister ship Illinois BB-65 2, ''Kentucky'' was still under construction at the end of World War II and was caught up in the post-war drawdown of the armed services. Her construction was suspended twice, during which times she served as a spare parts cache of sorts, until being sold for scrap in 1958 after several failed attempts to have her completed as a guided missile battleship.

Background

Like her ''Iowa''-class sisters, ''Kentucky''s construction began in response to the need for fast escorts for the Essex aircraft carriers. She was conceived in 1935, when the United States Navy initiated design studies for the creation of an extended ''South Dakota'' class that was not restricted by the Second London Naval Treaty. The latter four ''Iowa'' class battleships (''Missouri'', ''Wisconsin'', ''Illinois'' and ''Kentucky'') were not cleared for construction until 1940, By late 1939, it had become apparent that the navy needed as many fast battleships as possible and it was decided that BB-65 and BB-66 would follow the same design as their sisters.

Construction

Fate

In May or June 1956, ''Kentucky''s bow was removed and transported on a large crane barge from Newport News, Virginia, where she had been towed, back to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, to be used in the repair of Wisconsin BB-64 2, which had been damaged in a collision with Eaton DDE-510 2 on 6 May 1956. ''Kentucky'' was the second-to-last battleship under construction by the US Navy, and holds the title of being the highest numbered battleship hull to have been under construction but not completed for the United States Navy. Wisconsin BB-64 is numerically the highest numbered US battleship built, although she was actually completed before Missouri BB-63 2, making ''Missouri'' the last completed US battleship.