The Pennsylvania-class battleships, of the United States Navy, were an enlargement of the Nevada class; having two additional 14 in (356 mm) 45 caliber main battery guns, greater length and displacement, four propellers and slightly higher speed. They also had a relatively large secondary battery of 5 in (127 mm) 51 caliber guns, which was soon reduced when many of the guns' locations proved prone to wetness. Navy photo of USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) underway off New York City during the Naval Review, 31 May 1934, from http://www. ... The firepower of a battleship demonstrated by USS Iowa A battleship is a large, heavily-armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... The Nevada class battleships carried the United States Navys first triple gun turrets, a feature that would be seen in all but a few of its future battleship designs. ... The New Mexico class battleships of the United States Navy, all three of whose construction began in 1915, were improvements on the design introduced three years earlier with the Nevada class. ... The second USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of US Navy super-dreadnought battleships. ... Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor, see USS Arizona Memorial. ... Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo capacity of a ship. ... Look up ton in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The metre or meter is a measure of length. ... The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point, or a point alongside the ship at the mid-point of its length. ... The draft of a ships hull is the vertical distance from the bottom of the hull to the waterline. ... A knot is a unit of speed abbreviated kt or kn. ... Armour sucks ass alottttttttttt Armour was also commonly used to protect war animals, such as war horses and elephants. ... Belt armor is armor added to the hulls of battleships. ... Bulkhead may refer to the following: Bulkhead (partition), a wall within the hull of a ship, vehicle or container Bulkhead (barrier) Bulkhead line See also: Flatcar Bulkhead Category: ... A barbette is the fixed area underneath a rotating gun turret on a warship. ... Corbelled corner turrets at Newark Castle, Port Glasgow. ... A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull[1] of a ship. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations. ... The Nevada class battleships carried the United States Navys first triple gun turrets, a feature that would be seen in all but a few of its future battleship designs. ... Remains of a battery of English cannon from Youghal, County Cork. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Design

The General Board having just finished the design of the Nevada class battleship moved on towards the 7th class of U.S. dreadnought design issuing the 1913 design parameters, 12 14”/45 main guns, 22, 5”/51 secondary’s, 21 knots, and Nevada Class battleship armor. Minor rearranging of the secondary guns into fire control groups was designated. The strength of the General Board was again shown by demanding better ships from C&R Bureau and overcoming stagnation as it had done with the Nevada class battleships. The resulting ship now carried twelve 14”/45 by using triple turrets in all 4 positions that would be carried on in each succeeding class up to the Colorado class battleship when twin 16” turrets would be used. The Nevada class battleships carried the United States Navys first triple gun turrets, a feature that would be seen in all but a few of its future battleship designs. ... The Colorado class battleships (or Maryland class, for those who prefer to name ship classes after the first unit to be completed) were up-gunned versions of the preceding Tennessee class, sharing their general design and appearance, but replacing the earlier ships twelve 14-inch/50-caliber guns with eight...

Underwater protection

The designers had noted the increasing size, range and explosive power of torpedoes as torpedo designs improved. In addition the design of the Davis torpedo was a concern. The Davis torpedo delivered an 8" artillery shell in a gun barrel housed within a torpedo. As a result a series of Cassions were built (actual sections of the hull as they were proposed for construction) and tested with both external armor and internal armor. The Davis gun could cause damage but the answer to the Davis gun was external armor, the external armor however greatly increased the amount of damage caused by a conventional torpedo. As a result of the cassion tests the Pennsylvania class battleships were designed with a 4 layer system of thin plating air space, thin plate, oil space, thin plate, air space, followed with an armored layer 9.5' inboard. This allowed the explosion to disipate in the air space and deform the liquid loaded back plate. This section withstood 300 lb of dynamite place against the hull of the Cassion. This was considerably in advance of any navy at the time. ^[1]

Engineering

As a result of improvements to steam turbine technology this class moved away from the unloved vertical triple expansion (VTE) reciprocating steam engine. Fore River was able to demonstrate better economic performance with geared steam turbine per ton of oil used. The only other class of engine used in battleship designs by the U.S. would be turboelectric drives much loved because of the amount of compartmentation this configuration allowed. The Pennsylvania Class introduced the 4 engine 4 propeller scheme use in all further U.S. Battleship designs. A rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in a power plant A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work. ...

Operation & updates

Serving in the western Atlantic in 1916-18, these ships visited Europe just after the November 1918 Armistice and were thereafter stalwart members of the Navy's Battle Fleet. Reconstructed in 1929-31, they received greater main battery gun elevation, tripod masts to support improved gun directors and modern aircraft catapults. The ships' secondary gun batteries were updated, as was protection against gunfire, aircraft bombs and torpedoes. Pennsylvania, assigned to duty as a fleet flagship, was given a greatly enlarged armored conning tower. Now capable of long-range gunfire in an age when the role of aircraft was steadily growing, the ships spent another decade in the Nation's battle line.

World War II

The Pennsylvanias were both present during Japan's December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Arizona suffered a catastrophic detonation of the forward powder magazines when a bomb from a Hiryū Kate hit between and to starboard of Turrets #1 & 2, resulting in the most dramatic and costly casualty of the raid. Pennsylvania was only lightly damaged, and she served in the Pacific throughout World War II. Fitted with a new secondary battery of twin-mounted 5 in (127 mm) 38 caliber guns in late 1942, she supported many amphibious invasions and was present during the world's last battle between big-gun warships, the Battle of Surigao Strait on October 25, 1944. A torpedo hit in August 1945 damaged her propulsion beyond economical repair, wrecking three out of four shafts. With other obsolete battleships, Pennsylvania was the target of an atomic bomb test in 1946 and was scuttled at sea two years later. is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor, see USS Arizona Memorial. ... HiryÅ« (Japanese: 飛龍, meaning flying dragon) was a SōryÅ«-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. ... Nakajima B5N2 Kate in flight. ... The second USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of US Navy super-dreadnought battleships. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Combatants United States Australia Empire of Japan Commanders William Halsey, Jr (3rd Fleet) Thomas C. Kinkaid (7th Fleet) Takeo Kurita (Centre Force) Shoji Nishimura† (Southern Force) Kiyohide Shima (Southern Force) Jisaburo Ozawa (Northern Force) Strength 17 aircraft carriers 18 escort carriers 12 battleships 24 cruisers 141 destroyers and destroyer escorts... October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Construction

The Pennsylvania class included two ships, both built on the east coast:

Pennsylvania (BB-38), built by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in October 1913; launched in March 1915; completed in June 1916. The second USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of US Navy super-dreadnought battleships. ... The newly constructed USS Birmingham is launched from the Newport News yards in 1942 Northrop Grumman Newport News (NGNN), formerly called Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company (NNS&DD or simply NNS), is the largest privately owned shipyard in the United States and the only one that can build Nimitz... Location in the State of Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent city Incorporated 1896 Government  - Mayor Joe Frank Area  - City  119. ...

Arizona (BB-39), built by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Keel laid in March 1914; launched in June 1915; completed in October 1916. Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor, see USS Arizona Memorial. ... The New York Naval Shipyard (NYNSY), also known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the New York Navy Yard and United States Navy Yard, New York, is located 1. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ...

Stardard type battleship

The Pennsylvania class was part of the "Standard type battleship" concept of the US Navy, a design concept which gave the US Navy a homogeneous line of battle (very important, as it allowed the Navy to plan maneuvers for the whole line of battle rather than detaching "fast wings" and "slow wings"). The "Standard" concept included long-range gunnery, moderate speed (21 knots), a tight tactical radius (~700 yards) and improved damage control. The other Standards were the Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee and Colorado classes. The Nevada class battleships carried the United States Navys first triple gun turrets, a feature that would be seen in all but a few of its future battleship designs. ... The New Mexico class battleships of the United States Navy, all three of whose construction began in 1915, were improvements on the design introduced three years earlier with the Nevada class. ... The United States Navy built two Tennessee-class battleships: USS Tennessee (BB-43) USS California (BB-44) Tennessee and her sister ship California were the first American battleships built to a post-Jutland hull design. ... The Colorado class battleships (or Maryland class, for those who prefer to name ship classes after the first unit to be completed) were up-gunned versions of the preceding Tennessee class, sharing their general design and appearance, but replacing the earlier ships twelve 14-inch/50-caliber guns with eight...

The second USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of her class of US Navy super-dreadnought battleships. ... Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor, see USS Arizona Memorial. ... The Nevada class battleships carried the United States Navys first triple gun turrets, a feature that would be seen in all but a few of its future battleship designs. ... The New Mexico class battleships of the United States Navy, all three of whose construction began in 1915, were improvements on the design introduced three years earlier with the Nevada class. ... This list of battleships of the United States Navy includes all ships with the hull classification symbol BB. A number of these were started but never completed. ...

Source

Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships an illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1