USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)
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The second USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of the Pennsylvania- class , a class of two battleships of the United States Navy , which also includes the much better known USS Arizona .
In the Atlantic fleet
The Pennsylvania was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet . She became the flagship of the Commander in Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet on October 12, 1916 when Admiral Henry T. Mayo transferred his banner from the USS Wyoming to Pennsylvania . In January 1917, the Pennsylvania steamed into the Caribbean Sea for naval exercises . On April 6, 1917, the day the American declaration of war against Germany , the ship returned to its home port, Yorktown , Virginia . However, she was not - like some other battleships - sent to Europe to strengthen the British Grand Fleet there, as it was equipped with oil-fired boilers and further tankers for fuel delivery could not be dispensed with. Therefore, only coal-fired ships were sent out in support. The Pennsylvania spent the following months with exercises and training missions around the Chesapeake Bay , was in the meantime involved in a brief overhaul in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Norfolk , Virginia, and New York and in a small maneuver in Long Island Sound .
On December 4, 1918, the Pennsylvania ran out to Brest in France. She accompanied the troop transport George Washington , on which the US President Woodrow Wilson traveled to the peace negotiations. On December 14th, the Pennsylvania Brest left for New York, where it entered on December 25th.
In February 1919, the Pennsylvania again took part in naval maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea, from which she returned to New York in late spring. There Admiral Mayo was replaced on June 30, 1919 by Vice Admiral Henry B. Wilson as commander of the US Atlantic Fleet.
In the Pacific Fleet
On August 22, 1922, Pennsylvania left Lynhaven Roads to join the Pacific Fleet . Arrived on September 26th in San Pedro , California , she moved to her operational area off the coast of California, Washington and Oregon (until 1929). At times, exercises took the Pennsylvania into Hawaiian waters and through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean . On April 15, 1925, she left San Francisco with the fleet in order - after exercises off Hawaii - to set course for Melbourne on July 1 . After a brief visit to Wellington , New Zealand , she returned to San Pedro on September 26, 1925.
In January 1929, the Pennsylvania was sent to Panama. After a few training maneuvers during a brief stationing in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba, the ship set off for the Philadelphia Navy Yard , reached the shipyard on June 1, 1929 and stayed there for almost two years due to a modernization and overhaul program. On May 8, 1931, the battleship ran again towards Guantanamo Bay and there carried out refresher training for the crew off the coast and then returned to the States. On August 6, 1931, she went back on course towards Guantanamo and finally to San Pedro, where she rejoined the battle fleet.
From August 1931 to 1941, the Pennsylvania took part in tactical exercises and naval maneuvers off the west coast of the United States, as well as in exercises that took place alternately in Hawaiian and Caribbean waters. After another overhaul, this time in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , it was relocated to Hawaii on January 7, 1941, to take part in the tactical exercises with units of Task Forces 1 and 5 spread over the year. A short trip - together with Task Force 18 - brought them once more directly to the west coast of the United States.
Pacific War
Pearl Harbor
During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Pennsylvania was in dry dock in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard . She was one of the first ships to open fire on enemy dive bombers and torpedo bombers emerging from the clouds. Despite repeated attack flights, the attackers did not succeed in destroying the dry dock gate; however, Pennsylvania and the surrounding docks were badly damaged. For example, the entire crew of a 12.7 cm gun was killed by a bomb falling on the starboard side of the boat deck when it exploded in Casemate Nine. The destroyers USS Cassin and USS Downes , moored just off the Pennsylvania , were very badly damaged. Flying debris from the two destroyers caused further damage to the battleship. A part of a torpedo tube of Downes weighing about 500 kilograms was placed on the foredeck of Pennsylvania spun. After the attack, 15 people were killed, 14 missing and 38 wounded. Her sister ship, the USS Arizona , was destroyed in the attack.
On December 20, 1941, the Pennsylvania ran out to San Francisco, where it entered on December 29. The repair work carried out there lasted until March 30, 1942. From April 14th to August 1st, Pennsylvania conducted extensive testing, training, and patrol missions off the California coast, interrupted by brief overhauls in San Francisco. During one of these visits, in July 1942, the Commander in Chief of the United States Navy , Admiral Ernest J. King , held a ceremony aboard the ship in which he awarded the Distinguished Service Medal to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz - for extraordinary Merits and duties as Commander of the US Pacific Fleet (since December 31, 1941).
Battle for the Aleutians
On August 1, 1942, the Pennsylvania San Francisco left for Pearl Harbor, where it entered on August 14. She conducted target exercises and took part in exercises for support ships in aircraft carrier groups. On October 4, the ship returned to San Francisco for an overhaul that lasted until February 5, 1943. After a refresher training and an anti-aircraft patrol off the coast of California , the Pennsylvania set out for Alaska , from where it was used in the Aleutian campaign .
On April 30th, the Pennsylvania arrived in Cold Bay , Alaska. On May 11th and 12th, they shelled the beaches of Holtz Bay , Attu and Chicago Harbor to support the landings there. When she returned from there on May 12, a surveillance aircraft reported a torpedo approaching the Pennsylvania . She was able to outmaneuver the torpedo at top speed so that it passed in the wake. The destroyers USS Edwards and USS Farragut attacked the submarine that fired the torpedo. After ten hours of uninterrupted depth charges , the Japanese submarine I-31 was forced to surface and the Edwards fired at with artillery. I-31 escaped badly damaged at first, but was then sunk by the destroyer USS Frazier . On the morning of May 14th, torpedo runways were sighted again and the destroyers pursued the attacker unsuccessfully. At the same time, the Pennsylvania launched its seaplanes. These were to attack enemy positions on Attu from the seaplane tender USS Casco .
On the afternoon of May 14, Pennsylvania supported the infantry attack in the western arm of Holtz Bay on its third bombardment mission. She cruised northeast of Attu until May 19, when she drove to Adak . She left Adak again on May 21st and reached the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton , Washington, on May 28th. She returned to Adak on August 7th and left it on August 13th as the flagship of Admiral Rockwell , the commander of the Kiska Attack Force . On August 15, the attacking troops landed on the western beaches of Kiska without encountering any resistance. On the evening of August 16, it became clear that the Japanese had secretly evacuated the island from behind a smoke screen. The Pennsylvania crossed some time before Kiska and returned to Adak on August 23.
Okinawa
Repairs have been made to enable the ship to make its way to the Marshall Islands .
Atomic bomb tests in Bikini Atoll
In July 1946, the Pennsylvania was used in Bikini Atoll as a target ship for atomic bomb tests. After the tests, she was towed into the Kwajalein lagoon and decommissioned on August 29, 1946. For radiological and structural studies, the ship remained in the lagoon until it was sunk there on February 10, 1948. On February 19, the ship was removed from the lists.
Awards
For their service in World War II who received Pennsylvania eight battle stars .
literature
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905–1970 . JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-88199-474-2 , p. 233-237 .
