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Photo # NH 61238:  USS Kearsarge underway in harbor during the early 1900s

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5), 1900-1955.
Later Crane Ship # 1 (AB-1).

USS Kearsarge, first of a two-ship class of 11,525-ton battleships built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned in February 1900. She spent much of her first eight years operating along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean area, much of the time as flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron. In addition, she steamed across the Atlantic for brief service as European Squadron flagship in June and July 1903 and for a Mediterranean cruise in mid-1904. On 13 April 1906 Kearsarge suffered a turret fire during target practice. One of a series of such tragedies that gave the Navy some difficult lessons in ammunition supply design and gunnery safety practices, this incident took the lives of ten officers and men.

In December 1907 Kearsarge began a long voyage around South America, the first leg of a cruise around the World in company with most of the Navy's battleships. This "Great White Fleet" arrived at California in the spring of 1908 and, after refitting, crossed the Pacific to visit Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Japan. Kearsarge returned to the U.S. in February 1909, at the conclusion of a homeward-bound voyage that took her through the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. She decommissioned in September 1909 for modernization, work that included fitting new "cage" masts and other improvements. The battleship was only occasionally active during the next several years, largely on training duties, but also serving off Mexico in 1915-1916. After the U.S. entered World War I she operated as an armed guard and engineering training ship along the East Coast. On 18 August 1918 she rescued survivors of a sailing ship that had been sunk by a German submarine.

In 1919, Kearsarge carried Naval Academy midshipmen on a summer cruise to the West Indies. She was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in May 1920 and soon began conversion to a heavy-lift crane ship. Redesignated AB-1 in 1939 and renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, the old ship spent more than thirty years handling some of the Navy's heaviest loads before being sold for scrapping in August 1955.

This page features selected views of USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5), and provides links to other views concerning this ship as both a battleship and as a crane ship.

For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5) -- European Cruise, 1903;
  • USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5) -- On Board and Miscellaneous Views; and
  • USS Kearsarge (Crane Ship # 1, later AB-1) -- As a Crane Ship, 1922-1955.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 98372

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    Halftone of a photograph taken in 1899, while the ship was making 16.82 knots on trials off the U.S. East Coast.
    Note that her broadside battery of five-inch guns had not yet been installed.
    Copied from "The New Navy of the United States", by N.L. Stebbins, (New York, 1912).

    Donation of David Shadell, 1987.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 495 pixels

     
    Photo #: 19-N-1-22-3

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    In drydock during her trials period, 18 September 1899.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 98KB; 600 x 765 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 52034

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    In a harbor, circa the early 1900s.
    Kearsarge was painted this way when first completed, in 1900, and this view may have been taken at about that time.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 570 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 52031-KN (color)

    USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5)

    Color-tinted postcard published during the early 1900s, showing the ship as she appeared when first completed in 1900.
    Photographed by William H. Rau.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 490 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 61238

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    Underway in a harbor during the early 1900s.
    Kearsarge was painted this way when she visited Europe in 1903, and this photograph may have been taken at about that time.
    Note the semaphore signalling "paddles" mounted on her main topmast.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 555 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 52036

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    Underway, circa the early 1900s.
    Kearsarge was painted this way when she visited Europe in 1903, and this photograph may have been taken at about that time.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 91216

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    Photographed by the Burr McIntosh Studio, during the 1905 review of the North Atlantic Fleet.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C., Rodgers Collection.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 79107

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    In a Pacific Coast harbor during the first half of 1908, while participating in the first leg of the "Great White Fleet"'s cruise around the World.
    Photographed by the Romans Photo Company, copyrighted by Asahel Curtis.

    The original print was received from USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) in 1972.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 127KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 60250

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    In drydock at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 30 May 1908.
    Kearsarge was then preparing for the trans-Pacific leg of the "Great White Fleet"'s voyage around the World.
    Note her ram bow; figurehead; and anchors.
    Photographed by E.L. Meyer, Seattle, Washington.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 119KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 52033

    USS Kearsarge
    (Battleship # 5)

    Anchored off New York City during the October 1912 naval review.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 550 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 52032-KN (color)

    USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5)

    Postal card published circa the 19-"teens", featuring a retouched and color-tinted photograph taken off New York City during the October 1912 naval review.
    Colors applied to the ship's smokestacks and guns are quite inaccurate. In 1912 these would have been grey, not "buff".

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     

    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5) -- European Cruise, 1903;
  • USS Kearsarge (Battleship # 5) -- On Board and Miscellaneous Views; and
  • USS Kearsarge (Crane Ship # 1, later AB-1) -- As a Crane Ship, 1922-1955.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 9 March 2003