The Pennsylvania class battleship

The Pennsylvania class battleship succeeded the Nevada class battleships. Built in the period prior to WW I, the Pennsylvania class was a super dreadnought battleship; the second of the dreadnought design of the United States navy after the Nevada class battleships.

Commissioned in 1916, this WW I class of battleship was looking fairly dated prior to the start of WW II and saw limited service in WW I. The New Mexico class, the Tennessee class, Colorado class, North Carolina class, South Dakota class and finally the Iowa class succeeded the Pennsylvania class battleship.

Two ships of this class were constructed, the USS Arizona BB-39, possibly the most famous of all US battleships was sunk during the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces beginning the Pacific phase of the second world war. The USS Pennsylvania was in dry dock at the time of the attack and sustained relatively minor damage, the USS Arizona is now a memorial at Pearl Harbor.

Armed with 12 x 14" main guns mounted on 4 turrets, 22 x 5" secondary guns, 4 x 3" anti-aircraft guns and 2 x 21" torpedo tubes, the Pennsylvania class battleship was an significant improvement on the Nevada class armament but was ultimately an outdated battleship seeing service in the second world war involved in shore bombardment. After the war ended, the USS Pennsylvania BB-38 was involved in the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll and later sunk as target practice in 1948.