Some Facts of The USS Pennsylvania BB-38

03/10/08
Last Update

19 Admirals on board the USS Pennsylvania, 1935


COMMANDING OFFICERS


7 December 1941 - 1946

CAPTAIN CHARLES M. COOKE, U. S. Navy
27 February 1941- 3 April 1942

CAPTAIN THOMAS S. KING II, U. S. Navy
10 April 1942 - 8 February 1943

CAPTAIN WILLIAM A. CORN, U. S. Navy
8 February 1943 - 23 April 1944

CAPTAIN CHARLES F. MARTIN, U. S. Navy
 23 April 1944 - 5 June 1945

CAPTAIN WILLIAM M. MOSES, U. S. Navy
5 June 1945 - 5 November 1945

COMMANDER WILLIAM M. KAUFMAN, U. S. Navy
5 November 1945 - 23 January 1946

CAPTAIN CARL H. BUSHNELL, U. S. Navy
23 January 1946


EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

7 December 1941 - 1946

COMMANDER CARL F. HOLDEN, U. S. Navy
24 October 1940 - 1 January 1942

COMMANDER LEO B. SCHULTEN, U. S. Navy
 1 January 1942 - 18 August 1942

COMMANDER WILLIAM D. HOOVER, U. S. Navy
18 August 1942 - 29 October 1942

COMMANDER THOMAS H. TEMPLETON, U. S. Navy
29 October 1942 -11 May 1944

COMMANDER CHARLES JACKSON, U. S. Navy
I I May 1944-15 January 1945

COMMANDER CLAREN E. DUKE, U. S. Navy
15 January 1945-3 October 1945

COMMANDER WILLIAM M. KAUFMAN, U. S. Navy
 3 October 1945 - 5 November 1945

COMMANDER ALBERT S. FREEDMAN, U. S. Navy
5 November 1945-23 January 1946

COMMANDER WILLIAM M. KAUFMAN, U. S. Navy
23 January 1946


The USS Pennsylvania had a fuel capacity of 1,600,000 gallons of fuel oil, it could circumnavigate the earth (25,000 miles) and take two Destroyers with her and keep them fueled.


Rounds Fired in Action - December 1941 to August 15, 1945
The total number of rounds fired in less than 4 years was 135,859....pretty amazing. My Dad tells me that they had to occasionally cut off a section of the 14" gun barrel inserts, the riffling, because it protruded beyond the end of the gun due to so many rounds being fired through them..............

Place 14"/45 5"/38 5"/25 3"/50 40mm 20mm .50 cal.
Pearl Harbor     3200 2000     56000
Attu 324 2285          
Makin 403 246          
Kwajalein 827 3065     1126   187
Eniwetok 744 1817     1180 3228 372
Saipan-Tinian 153 476          
Guam 1797 9543     14010 1580 637
Peleiu 662 3447     802    
Angaur 298 1680          
Leyte 866 5507     2089 2443 120
Lingayen 640 3016     2715 5477 131
Wake 140 583          
Okinawa   13     30    
Totals 6854 31678 3200 2000 21952 12728 57447

 


Equatorial Crossings 

December 7,  1941 - 1945

Date From To Course
15 Nov. I943 Pearl Harbor Makin 180
19 Nov. 1943 Pearl Harbor Makin 315
28 Nov. 1943 Maneuvering Maneuvering 140
29 Nov. 1943 Maneuvering Maneuvering 295
2 March 1944 Majuro Efate 190
6 June 1944 Efate Roi 025
21 Aug. 1944 Eniwetok Espiritu Santo 178
9 Sept. 1944 Port Purvis Peleliu 285
27 Sept. 1944 Kossol Passage Manus 111
12 Oct. 1944 Manus Leyte 000
29 Nov. 1944 Leyte Manus 133
15 Dec. 1944 Manus Kossol Passage 312
17 Feb. 1945 Leyte Manus 132
23 Feb. 1945 Manus Majuro 082*

*zigzag plan actually took the ship across the line three times within a few minutes

 

SHIPS DATA

Name:  Pennsylvania

Hull Number: BB-38

Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Virginia

Laid down: October 27, 1913

Christened: March 16, 1915, by Miss Elizabeth Kolb

Commissioned: June 12, 1916

Construction cost: $7,425,000.00 (hull and machinery) $12,993,579.23 (total)

Displacement:  34,207 tons (normal); 37,654 tons (full load)

Length (wl): 600'

Length (oa): 608'

Maximum Beam: 106' 3"

Mean Draft: 28'

Maximum Draft: 33' 6"

  

Machinery

Total machinery weight: 2,462 tons (with liquids)

Boilers: Five White-Forster, One Bureau Express

Drive: Four Curtiss Geared Turbines; one per shaft

Fuel oil: 5,780 ton capacity

Diesel oil: 75 tons (for boats)

Gasoline: 11.76 tons (for aircraft)

Lubricating oil: 5,000 gallons

Reserve boiler feed water: 323 tons (normal); 392 additional emergency capacity

Potable water: 402 tons

Electricity: Four 400kw, 120/240-volt turbo-generators

Horsepower: 35,000 (shaft hp)

Propellers: Four three-bladed; 12'7" diameter.

Rudder: One, balanced, tapered type. 443 square foot area. Trainable 38" to port and starboard.

Maximum Speed: 21 knots 

Maximum radius: 8,500 miles @ 20 knots; 13,600 miles @ 15 knots

Anchors: Three 20,000-lb, one starboard, two Port. 120 fathoms chain to starboard, 180 fathoms to port.

 

Armor

Hull Armor: 14" amidships, tapering to 8" ends. Entire belt extends 9' above waterline and 8' 6" below. This protected turret magazines and amidships machinery spaces. 

Deck Armor: 4" outboard strakes (upper deck); 6" amidships. 2" outboard strakes (lower deck). This protected machinery areas and steering gear from plunging fire.

Funnel Armor: 15" at base of boiler uptakes, tapering to 9" at the upper deck.

Turret Armor: 18" faces; 9" sides, rears; 5" tops; 2" on exposed undersides.

Barbettes: 13" above second deck; 4.5" between second and third decks.

Conning Tower: 16" sides; two 4" layers on top.

Conning Tower tube: 5' inside diameter from third deck to conning tower base; 16" armor above 2nd deck, 6" below.

Longitudinal Torpedo Bulkheads: Two continuous each side from frame 20 to 127; 60 lb treated steel plating outer bulkhead, normal structural steel inner bulkhead. total width of protection each side is 11' 9".

Transverse Torpedo Bulkheads: Four 40 lb treated steel bulkheads outboard the outer longitudinal bulkhead at frames 23, 30, 90, and 120.

Total published armor weight: 8,072 tons

 

Armament

Main Armament:  Twelve 14"/45cal 70-ton rifled guns mounted in four super-firing triple turrets, 2 forward and 2 aft.

Barrel length: 52' 6"

Breech diameter: 46"

Maximum Elevation: Thirty degrees

Rifling Spiral grooves in barrel improved accuracy by imparting a spin to the projectile, giving it a clockwise twist of one revolution for each 37.3 feet of travel.

Maximum Range: 34,000 yards

Maximum Projectile: 1,400 lb armor piercing

Explosive Charge: 31.5 lb (2.25% of projectile weight).

Muzzle Velocity: 2,700 fps

Average rate of fire: 1.5 per minute

Secondary Armament:  Twelve 5"/51 caliber single mounted guns; ten within the superstructure deckhouse and two atop it, one on either side of the conning tower. (the latter two were replaced by single mounted 3"/50 caliber guns shortly before pearl harbor.)

AA Armament: Eight 5"/25 caliber single mounted guns, 5"/38 later, located atop the superstructure deckhouse, four to a side; eight .50cal machine guns, located two on each mast, and four on the funnel platform.

Radar:  CXAM Fire Control .

Catapults:  One powder fired P MK 6 (trainable) on fantail, one powder fired P MK 4 mod I (fixed) atop turret three.

Aircraft: Three 0s2u-2 Kingfishers (low-wing, monoplane, floats under fuselage and each wing).

Ships Complement:  1,731 total (92 officers and warrants; 1,639 enlisted).

Accommodations: 2,037 total (4 cabin officers; 44 wardroom officers; 32 junior officers; 10 warrant officers; 72 chief petty officers; 1,875 other enlisted).

 

 

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