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As Americans and, in particular, as Kentuckians, we have so much to be thankful for as we are each “blessed with diversity, natural wealth, beauty, and grace from on High.” K.R.S. 2.035. I’m taking today off to celebrate with family and hope you have the same opportunity.
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The U.S.S. Kentucky, a Kearsarge-class battleship, was commissioned in 1898 with a bottle of water (courtesy of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union). It was the first of three naval vessels named after our fair Commonwealth.
In 1907, midshipmen aboard the U.S.S. Kentucky celebrated Thanksgiving and enjoyed a great feast which, like the ship’s commissioning, lacked any alcohol.
The following month, the U.S.S. Kentucky and her midshipmen would experience a great thrill as part of President Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet” which departed Hampton Roads, Va. in December 1907. After circumnavigating the globe, the fleet was reviewed by the President upon return to Hampton Roads on February 22, 1909.