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USS PENNSYLVANIA/PITTSBURGH (ACR/CA-4)

CLASS - PENNSYLVANIA
Displacement 13,680 Tons, Dimensions, 504' (oa) x 69' 7" x 26' 6" (Max)
Armament 4 x 8"/40, 14 x 6"/50 18 x 3"/50, 12 x 3pdr, 2 x 1pdr, 2 x 18" tt.
Armor, 6" Belt, 6 1/2" Turrets, 4" Deck, 9" Conning Tower.
Machinery, 23,000 IHP; 2 Vertical, Inverted, Triple Expansion Engines, 2 screws
Speed, 22 Knots, Crew 830.
Operational and Building Data
Keel laid on 07 AUG 1901 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, PA
Launched 22 AUG 1903
Commissioned 09 MAR 1905
Used for flight Deck testing from late 1910 to early 1911
Decommissioned 01 JUL 1911
Renamed Pittsburgh 27 AUG 1912
Commissioned 20 MAY 1913
Reclassified CA-4 in 1920
Decommissioned 15 OCT 1921
Commissioned 02 OCT 1922
Decommissioned 10 JUL 1931
Used in weapons testing after decommissioning
Stricken 26 OCT 1931
Fate: Sold for scrap 21 DEC 1931

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Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Pittsburgh 145k

USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) Photograph taken circa 1905-1908, and published on a color-tinted postal card by Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco, California. Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Retired), 1983.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 101229-KN.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 145k

USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) Anchored at Oyster Bay, New York, during the Naval review there, 4 SEP 1906. Published on a stereograph card by the Keystone View Company, 1906. Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1977.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 85296.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 183k

USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, being fitted with a temporary wooden deck in preparation for Eugene Ely's airplane landing attempt. Ely landed his Curtiss pusher biplane on board the ship on 18 JAN, the first airplane landing on a warship. The landing deck, 120 feet long and 30 feet wide, was inclined slightly to help slow the plane as it landed, and had a thirty-degree ramp at its after end.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

USNHC/Darryl L. Baker
Pittsburgh 123k

This an another view of the flight deck being installed aboard USS Pennsylvania at Mare Island Navy Yard in 1910.

U.S. Navy Photo.

Darryl L. Baker
Pittsburgh 151k

USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in January 1911, after she had been fitted with a temporary wooden deck in preparation for Eugene Ely's airplane landing attempt. Ely landed his Curtiss pusher biplane on board the ship on 18 JAN, the first airplane landing on a warship. The landing deck, 120 feet long and 30 feet wide, was inclined slightly to help slow the plane as it landed, and had a thirty-degree ramp at its after end.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 90066.

USNHC/Darryl L. Baker
Pittsburgh 67k

USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) In San Francisco Bay, California, in January 1911, after she had been fitted with a temporary wooden deck in preparation for Eugene Ely's airplane landing attempt. Ely landed his Curtiss pusher biplane on board the ship on 18 JAN, the first airplane landing on a warship. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1977.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 85460.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 137k

Aviator Eugene B. Ely Stands by his Curtiss pusher biplane, just before taking off from USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) to return to land, 18 JAN 1911. - Earlier in the day he landed on the ship's deck, the first time an airplane had alighted on a warship. Pennsylvania was then at anchor in San Francisco Bay, California. Note the light emergency floats under the plane's lower wings and Ely's flying attire, including rubber inner tubes worn around his shoulders as a life preserver. The hooks on the bottom of the plane's undercarriage were used to catch lines placed across the ship's landing platform in order to bring the aircraft to a stop. Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 77588.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 116k

Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane Taking off from USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4) to return to land, 18 JAN 1911. Earlier in the day Ely landed on the ship's deck, the first time an airplane had landed on a warship. The ship was then at anchor in San Francisco Bay, California. Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 77499.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 80k

Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane Flying off aircraft platform on USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), 18 JAN 1911. Earlier in the day Ely had landed on the ship's deck, the first time an airplane alighted on a warship's deck. Pennsylvania was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California. Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 77565.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 191k

Starboard stern quarter with Eugene P. Ely landing plane on flight deck. 18 JAN 1911.

Image # (80-G-428455)

National Archives
Pittsburgh 85k

First airplane landing on a warship, 18 JAN 1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands his Curtiss pusher biplane on USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), anchored in San Francisco Bay, California. Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 1385.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 121k

Curtiss "Hydroaeroplane" Being prepared for hoisting aboard USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), during experiments in San Diego Bay, California, on 17 FEB 1911. Glenn Curtiss is standing atop the aircraft.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives #80-G-1051558.

National Archives
Pittsburgh 153k

First airplane landing on a warship, 18 JAN 1911 - Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane nears the landing platform on USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), during the morning of 18 JAN 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 82737.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 130k

First airplane landing on a warship, 18 JAN 1911 - Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane lands aboard USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), during the morning of 18 JAN 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California. The plane has now caught the first lines of the arresting gear, and sandbags at the ends of the lines are being pulled along the landing platform as the plane moves forward.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 77608.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 103k

USS Pittsburgh (ACR-4) View on deck, looking aft at other armored cruisers of the South Atlantic Squadron, while they were underway at sea, circa 1917-1918. Note Pittsburgh's deep roll to port, and canvas covers over her afterdeck skylights. Courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Ellis M. Zacharias, USN, 1931.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 50065.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 90k

USS Pittsburgh (ACR-4) At Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, circa 1917-1918. Courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Ellis M. Zacharias, USN, 1931.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 50062.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 80k

USS Pittsburgh (ACR-4) In a floating drydock at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, circa 1917-1918. Courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Ellis M. Zacharias, USN, 1931.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 50051.

USNHC
Pittsburgh   USS Pittsburgh, Moored in the San Marco Basin, Venice, Italy, in 1919. From the collection of Edward Barrall. Jennifer Peterson
Pittsburgh   USS Pittsburgh, Moored in the San Marco Basin, Venice, Italy, in 1919. From the collection of Edward Barrall. Jennifer Peterson
Pittsburgh   USS Pittsburgh, anchored in an unknown Mediterranean port during 1919. Note the 3-Star flag flying from the after mast. Pittsburgh was the flagship for the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. From the collection of Edward Barrall. Jennifer Peterson
Pittsburgh 64k

USS Pittsburgh (ACR-4) In a harbor in the Adriatic Sea area, circa 1919.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 50352.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 89k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) Alongside a wharf, probably in a European port, circa 1920. Collection of Rear Admiral Paulus P. Powell, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 72265.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 57k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) In a Mediterranean Port, circa 1923-1926. Panoramic photograph. Courtesy of Robert M. Ramsey, 1981.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 95655.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 149k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) Members of the ship's landing force in a boat, off Shanghai, China, in 1927. Note steel helmets and M1910 infantry equipment worn by these men. Several picks are in evidence, but few spades. Sailor on the left of the group seated on the gunwale has a non-standard entrenching axe on his pack. There are also three litter bearers present (at left), and a number of men of Oriental appearance on the far side of the boat.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 50794.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 72k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) In the Wangpoo River, off Shanghai, China, circa 1927. Note the different elevations of the 8"/45 guns of her forward turret. Also note the missing forward stack, which was removed in 1926, making her unique within the class. Courtesy of Penland Dixon, 1983.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 95119.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 83k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) Underway at sea, circa 1926-1931, as refitted for service as Asiatic Fleet flagship. Note the dense smoke from her boiler fires.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 720.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 83k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) Underway, circa 1929. Courtesy of William P. Healey, 1979.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 92515.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 98k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) View of the ship's forward 8"/45 gun turret and bridge, seen from her forecastle, 1930. The photograph appears to have been taken while the ship was off Shanghai, China. Note non-standard tampions closing the gun muzzles. Courtesy of W.G. Kelly, 1970.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 71964.

USNHC
Pittsburgh 103k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) Anchored off Shanghai, China, circa 1930-1931.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 51997.

USNHC/Fred Weiss
Pittsburgh 130k

USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) The decommissioned ship being used in bomb tests, 8 OCT 1931. This photograph shows the explosion of the first 500-pound bomb in the test series.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives #80-G-405490.

National Archives/Fred Weiss

USS PENNSYLVANIA/PITTSBURGH (ACR/CA-4) History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry on the U.S. Navy Historical Center website.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable To This Ship

Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Cruiser Pages By Andrew Toppan.
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Last updated 02/17/2008