The keel of Kentucky (BB-66), an Iowa-class battleship, was laid at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 6 December 1944. She was launched on 20 January 1950, but construction was suspended on 17 February 1947 when the battleship was 72.1 percent complete.
Kentucky's engine plants were used to power the fast combat support ships USS Sacramento (AOE-1) and USS Camden (AOE-2).
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 USS Wisconsin (BB-64), which had been damaged in a collision with USS Eaton (DDE-510) on 6 May 1956.
Kentucky was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 June 1958 and her incomplete hulk was sold for scrapping to Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland, on 31 October.