Myron J. Smith - Keystone Battlewagon U.S.S. Pennsylvania (BB-38)
Pictorial Histories Pub Co | 1996 | ISBN: 0933126271 | English | 54 pages | PDF | 46.89 MB
Warship Series 2
Pictorial Histories Pub Co | 1996 | ISBN: 0933126271 | English | 54 pages | PDF | 46.89 MB
Warship Series 2
The battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the third U.S. Navy ship to carry that name. She was christened in honor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, second of the original 13 states, which ratified the Constitution on December 12, 1787.
Affectionately nicknamed the "Mighty Penn," the "Pennsy," and even "Old Falling Apart," she was sometimes called the Keystone Battlewagon and was often fleet flagship in the years before World War II. Slightly damaged at Pearl Harbor, she became the only U.S. dreadnought to participate in 13 successive amphibious operations—from Attu to Lingayen—and the only American battleship to win, during the course of the war, a Navy Unit Citation. "Dying with her boots on," the valiant vessel closed her career as an A-bomb test ship, remaining to the end a worthy symbol of the Commonwealth's people and the spirit of "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence."