The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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|  ONI 222 |
| Tonnage | 34,823 tons standard displacement |
| Dimensions | 608' by 106'2' by 28'8" 185.32m by 32.35m by 8.8m |
| Maximum speed | 21 knots |
| Complement | 1052 |
| Aircraft | 2 catapults 3 seaplanes |
| Armament | 4x3 14"/45
guns 12x1 5"/51 guns 8x1 5"/25 AA guns 4x1 3"/50 AA guns 8 0.50 machine guns |
| Protection | 10,883 tons: 13.5" (343mm) belt tapering to 8" (203mm) below the waterline 1.75"+1.25"+1.25"+0.5" = 3.7" (44mm+32mm+32mm+13mm = 93mm) STS armor deck 4.5" STS + 1.75" MS = 5.5" (114mm STS + 44mm MS = 158mm) over steering spaces 1"/1.5" STS + 0.5" MS = 1.35"/1.85" (25mm/38mm STS + 13mm MS = 34mm/47mm) splinter deck 13" (330mm) bulkheads tapering to 8" (203mm) below waterline 18"/5"STS/9" (457mm/127mm STS/229mm) turret 13" (330mm) barbettes Splinter protection for 5"/25 guns 16" (406mm) conning tower 13" (330mm) uptakes 19' (5.8m) underwater protection consisting of a 0.25" (6mm) retaining bulkhead, an inner 1.5"+1.5" (38mm+38mm) STS torpedo bulkhead, an outer 0.75" (19mm) STS torpedo bulkhead, and blisters. Designed to withstand a 300 lb (136 kg) explosive charge. |
| Machinery |
4-shaft Westinghouse geared
turbine (33,375 shp) 6 Bureau Express boilers |
| Bunkerage | 3692 tons fuel oil |
| Range | 6070 nautical miles (11,200 km) at 12 knots |
| Sensors | CXAM1 air search radar |
| Modifications |
Spring 1942: Replaced 3" guns with 4x4 1.1"/75 AA guns. Added 16x1 20mm Oerlikon AA guns
and SR, SK, and SG radar.
1943: 5"/25 guns replaced with 4x2 5"/38 dual-purpose guns with
two Mark 37 directors. One catapult removed. Light antiaircraft upgraded to 10x4 40mm Bofors AA guns, 51
20mm guns and 8 0.50 machineguns. |
The Pennsylvanias were
completed in 1916. The second of the "standard battleship" classes, they resembled the preceeding Nevada class. However, the Pennsylvanias had all triple turrets, for a main battery of twelve 14" (356mm) guns. The protection scheme was almost identical with the Nevadas
except for the underwater protection, which benefited from caisson
experiments conducted in 1912. The resulting underwater protection
system was capable of withstanding a 300 lb (136 kg) explosive charge,
which made it the best in the world at the time. The ships also had
four propeller shafts instead of two, which improved machinery
dispersal and gave enough added power to compensate for the greater
displacement.
At the time of their completion, the Pennsylvanias were
possibly the finest
battleships in the world. By 1941
they were obsolescent, particularly in their antiaircraft
defenses,
despite modernization in the 1930s that added an antiaircraft battery similar to that of the Nevadas and improved their horizonal and underwater
protection and gun elevation.
The more famous ship of this class, Arizona, was wrecked during the attack on Pearl Harbor by an explosion of the forward magazine. Pennsylvania herself was in dry dock and was probably the least damaged of all the battleships present at Pearl Harbor, suffering a single bomb hit that inflicted some casualties but little structural damage.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009, 2012 by Kent G. Budge. Index
