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| Country:
USA |
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Type: Battleship |
| Service:
1916 - 1946 |
| Laid down: 27 October 1913 |
| Launched: 16 March 1915 |
| Commissioned: 12 June 1916 |
| Decommissioned: 29 August 1946 |
| Struck: 19 February 1948 |
Fate: Scuttled 10 February 1948 |
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The two Pennsylvania class battleships, of the United States Navy, were an enlargement of the Nevada class; having two additional 14-inch main battery guns, greater length and displacement, four propellers and slightly higher speed. They also had a relatively large secondary battery of 5-inch guns, which was reduced after many of the placements proved prone to wetness.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of United States Navy super-dreadnought battleships. She was laid down October 27, 1913, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia; launched on March 16, 1915 and commissioned June 12, 1916. Upon commissioning, Pennsylvania was attached to the Atlantic Fleet. In 1922, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet. Pennsylvania underwent an overhaul and modernization at the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1 June 1929 into 1931. At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, Pennsylvania was in drydock in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. USS Pennsylvania was engaged in the Pacific for most of World War II. She suffered extensive damage from an aerial torpedo attack on 12 August 1945. Postwar the battleship was used at a target for atomic bomb tests at the Bikini atoll. Decommissioned on August 29, 1946, the radiological and structural effects of the testing were studied until February 10, 1948 when she was scuttled. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on February 19, 1948.
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