Brief history of the Pennsylvania Class

Possibly only interesting to us Pennsylvanians LRusso

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2014/04/27/The-Next-Page-Historian-recounts-the-exploits-of-USS-Pennsylvania/stories/201404270105

 

As a proud Missourian, I would have preferred to see the surrender signed aboard Pennsylvania. (Or better yet Enterprise.) Pennsy was a fine ship and it was interesting reading. Thank you.

 

Always nice to see the "forgotten sister" of the USS Arizona getting some time in the media.

One thing I am wondering though, is that the Ship-of-the-line USS Pennsylvania had been turned into a receiving ship by the time of her burning, and don't think she had any guns aboard at all.

Once the weather gets nicer, I do plan on going to the Pennsylvania Military Museum to see the two recently installed 14-inch guns from BB-38.

 

That's correct, guns from Pennsylvania or ships laid up in ordinary - sailing era term for mothballs - were stored ashore. Someone posted on civilwartalk a list of 1195 guns captured by the Confederates when they took over the navy yard. These included 79 8" shell guns and no fewer than 909 32pdrs of various models, the types Pennsylvania would carry in active service.

In the early days of the steel navy, armored cruisers and a class of monitors had state names, as did the Great Lakes patrol ship Michigan. The supply of state names, then 45, was exhausted when Delaware, North Dakota, and Utah were assigned to some of our early dreadnoughts, so non-battleships started being renamed.

 

I think it should have been the Enterprise too, followed by any of the Pearl Harbor BBs

Missouri was Harry being a politician, but it was a darn nice photo opp too.
New York was available if FDR were still alive

 

Don't forget she was stateside undergoing repair.

 

I am indeed aware of this, RAL, but had the will been there I have little doubt repairs couldn't have been expedited. Keep in mind she sailed stateside to those repairs on her very lonesome and I'd wanted to see her (perhaps bulged) deck serve as the most appropriate of possible locations for the Japanese to most formally apologize and hand over the keys to the country until they'd learned enough to drive it safely. No desire to send "BEnterprise" (if you'll pardon the pun) back to war with fresh kinks still showing, just to a pleasant ceremonial cruise around Tokyo Bay. The half-patched holes would add gravitas.

 

Just a brief synopsis of US Battleships.
Bill