13 Inch

USS Kearsarge (BB-5), the lead ship of her class of battleships, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named, by act of Congress, in honor of the famous American Civil War sloop-of-war Kearsarge. more...

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Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Herbert Winslow, daughter-in-law of Captain John A. Winslow, who had commanded the sloop Kearsarge during her famous battle with Alabama, and commissioned on 20 February 1900 with Captain William M. Folger in command.

Kearsarge became flagship of the North Atlantic Station, cruising down the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea. 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 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany on 26 June 1903 and by the Prince of Wales--who would later become King George V of the United Kingdom--on 13 July. She returned to Bar Harbor, Maine, on 26 July 1903 and resumed duties as flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet. She sailed from New York on 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 Sea, she led the North Atlantic Battleship Squadron to Lisbon, Portugal, where she entertained the King Charles of Portugal on 11 June 1904. She next steamed to Phaleron Bay, Greece, where she celebrated with King George I of Greece and his son and daughter-in-law, Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg. The squadron paid goodwill calls at Corfu, Trieste, and Fiume before returning to Newport, Rhode Island, on 29 August 1904.

Kearsarge remained flagship of the North Atlantic Fleet until relieved 31 March by the battleship Maine (BB-10), but continued operations with the fleet. During target practice off Cape Cruz, Cuba, on 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 Second Squadron, Fourth Division, she sailed on 16 December 1907 with the "Great White Fleet" of battleships, sent around the world by President of the United States 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 Sea, before returning to the eastern seaboard of the United States. Roosevelt reviewed the Fleet as it passed into the Hampton Roads on 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org