USS Pennsylvania

The USS Pennsylvania BB-38 was the name ship in the two-ship Pennsylvania class. Her sister ship was the USS Arizona. The USS Pennsylvania was commissioned on July 12, 1916. She spent the duration of WWI in American waters. In January 1929. She went into the Philadelphia Navy Yard for refit and modernization. She was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The USS Pennsylvania was in the drydock across from Ford Island, undergoing a refit. Three of her propellers had been removed. The destroyer Cassin and Downes were sharing the same drydock with her. The Japanese bombers tried to destroy the locks on the drydock but failed. The USS Pennsylvania was hit by a single bomb and strafed by attacking Japanese aircraft. The USS Downes was on fire, and the fire spread to the Pennsylvania. She was showered by debris when the USS Downes’s magazines exploded. Because her damage was minimal, she was quickly made ready for sea. She left Pearl Harbor for the US West Coast on December 20. She was repaired and modernized with an increased anti-aircraft armament, and radar added. The USS Pennsylvania continued to serve in various campaigns in the Pacific. She participated in the last battleship-to-battleship engagement in history. In 1945, she was hit by a Japanese air-launched torpedo off Okinawa. Flooding almost caused the loss of the ship, but damage control parties were able to keep her afloat. The USS Pennsylvania was decommissioned on August 29, 1946. She would be expended in the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Please view the list to learn the names of those who lost their lives on that day.