Tinted postcard of USS Pennsylvania, from around 1905-1908. |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Pennsylvania |
| Namesake: | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
| Laid down: | 7 August 1901 |
| Launched: | 22 August 1903 |
| Commissioned: | 9 March 1905 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 July 1931 |
| Renamed: | Pittsburg, 27 August 1912 |
| Reclassified: | Heavy cruiser CA-4, 27 August 1912 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 21 December 1931 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Pennsylvania-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 13,680 long tons (13,900 t) |
| Length: | 504 ft (154 m) |
| Beam: | 69 ft 6 in (21.18 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 1 in (7.95 m) |
| Installed power: | 23,000 ihp (17,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × vertical, inverted, triple expansion steam engines 2 × screws |
| Speed: | 22 kn (25 mph; 41 km/h) |
| Complement: | 829 officers and men |
| Armament: | 4 × 8 in (200 mm)/40 cal guns 14 × 6 in (150 mm)/50 cal guns 18 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armor: | |
The second USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), also referred to "Armored Cruiser No. 4", and later renamed Pittsburgh and numbered CA-4, was a United States Navy armored cruiser, the lead ship of her class.
She was laid down on 7 August 1901 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, launched on 22 August 1903, sponsored by Miss Coral Quay (daughter of Senator Matthew S. Quay of Pennsylvania), and commissioned on 9 March 1905, Captain Thomas C. McLean in command.
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Pennsylvania operated on the East Coast and in the Caribbean until 8 September 1906, when she cleared Newport for the Asiatic Station, returning to San Francisco on 27 September 1907 for west coast duty. She visited Chile and Peru in 1910.
On 18 January 1911, a plane flown by Eugene Ely from the Tanforan airfield in San Bruno, California landed on a platform constructed on her afterdeck. This was the first successful aircraft landing on a ship, and the first using a tailhook apparatus, thus opening the era of naval aviation and aircraft carriers.
While in reserve at Puget Sound from 1 July 1911-30 May 1913, the cruiser trained naval militia. She was renamed Pittsburgh on 27 August 1912 to free the name "Pennsylvania" for a new battleship.
Recommissioning, Pittsburgh patrolled the west coast of Mexico during the troubled times of insurrection which led to American involvement with the Veracruz landing in April 1914. Later, as a symbol of American might and concern, she served as flagship for Admiral William B. Caperton—Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet—during South American patrols and visits during World War I. Cooperating with the British, she scouted German raiders and acted as a powerful deterrent against their penetration of the eastern Pacific.
Future Rear Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias served as a line officer aboard Pittsburgh during World War I. Future Governor of American Samoa George Landenberger commanded the vessel.[1]
Returning to the east coast, Pittsburgh prepared for duty as flagship for Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in the eastern Mediterranean, for which she sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 19 June 1919. Cruising the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black Seas, she joined in the massive relief operations and other humanitarian concerns with which the Navy carried out its quasi-diplomatic functions in this troubled area. In June 1920, she sailed north to visit French and British ports and cruise the Baltic Sea on further relief assignments before returning to decommission at Philadelphia on 15 October 1921.
On 9 September 1920, she ran aground on rocks off the coast of Libau. She was assisted by HMS Dauntless and USS Frederick; Frederick escorted her to Sheerness Royal Dockyard, Kent, England where she went into dry-dock for repairs.([1])
Recommissioned on 2 October 1922, Pittsburgh returned to European and Mediterranean waters as flagship of Naval Forces Europe, then arrived at New York on 17 July 1926 to prepare for flagship duty with the Asiatic Fleet, during which time she was partially refitted, including the removing of her forward stack (making her unique to her class) and removal and plating over several 3 in (76 mm) guns. She sailed on 16 October for Chefoo, arriving on 23 December. Early in January 1927, she landed sailors and Marines to protect Americans and other foreigners in Shanghai from the turmoil and fighting of the Chinese power struggle. When Chiang Kai-shek's Cantonese Army won control of Shanghai in March, Pittsburgh resumed operations on patrol and exercises with the Asiatic Fleet. Closing her long career of service, she carried the Governor General of the Philippines, Dwight F. Davis on a courtesy cruise to such ports as Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Belawan, Batavia (Jakarta), Surabaya, Bali, Makassar, and Sandakan, returning to Manila on 15 April 1931. Six days later, she steamed for Suez en route to Hampton Roads, arriving on 26 June. Decommissioning on 10 July, she was sold for scrapping under the terms of the London Naval Treaty to Union Shipbuilding, Baltimore, Maryland on 21 December.
The bow ornament of Pittsburgh was presented to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it was installed overlooking Junction Hollow at the western edge of the school's campus. Today, the ornament is on display at Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial; a replica of it is still in place at the modern Carnegie Mellon University. ([2])
The number 3 bell at Rochester Cathedral, England, bears the inscription "U.S.S. PITTSBURGH IN MEMORY OF 1920" ([3]). According to Love's Guide to the Church Bells of Kent: "Note that there is a mystery regarding the inscription on the rear of the 3rd. The USS Pittsburgh had nothing to do with Rochester Cathedral, and perhaps the inscription appears by mistake."
This article includes information collected from the public domain sources Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and Naval Vessel Register.
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