"West Virginia" was long overall and she had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full load. The ship was powered by four General Electric turbo-electric drives with steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated at for a top speed of , though on speed trials she reached and a speed of . She had a normal cruising range of at , but additional fuel space could be used in wartime to increase her range to at that speed. Her crew numbered 64 officers and 1,241 enlisted men.