USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4)

The second USS "Pennsylvania" (ACR-4), also referred to "Armored Cruiser No. 4", and later renamed "Pittsburgh" and numbered CA-4, was a United States Navy armored cruiser, the lead ship of her class.

She was laid down 7 August 1901 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, launched 22 August 1903, sponsored by Miss Coral Quay (daughter of Senator Matthew S. Quay of Pennsylvania), and commissioned 9 March 1905, Captain Thomas C. McLean in command.

"Pennsylvania" operated on the East Coast and in the Caribbean until 8 September 1906 when she cleared Newport for the Asiatic Station, returning to San Francisco 27 September 1907 for west coast duty. She visited Chile and Peru in 1910. On 18 January 1911, a plane flown by Eugene Ely landed on a platform constructed on her afterdeck, opening the era of naval aviation and aircraft carriers.

While in reserve at Puget Sound between 1 July 1911 and 30 May 1913, the cruiser trained naval militia. She was renamed "Pittsburgh" 27 August 1912 to free the name "Pennsylvania" for a new battleship.

Recommissioning, "Pittsburgh" patrolled the west coast of Mexico during the troubled times of insurrection which led to American involvement with the Veracruz landing in April 1914. Later, as a symbol of American might and concern, she served as flagship for Admiral William B. Caperton, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, during South American patrols and visits during World War I. Cooperating with the British, she scouted German raiders and acted as a powerful deterrent against their penetration of the eastern Pacific.

Returning to the east coast, "Pittsburgh" prepared for duty as flagship for Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in the eastern Mediterranean, for which she sailed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1919. Cruising the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black Seas, she joined in the massive relief operations and other humanitarian concerns with which the Navy carried out its quasi-diplomatic functions in this troubled area. In June 1920, she sailed north to visit French and British ports and cruise the Baltic Sea on further relief assignments before returning to decommission at Philadelphia 15 October 1921.

Recommissioned 2 October 1922, "Pittsburgh" returned to European and Mediterranean waters as flagship of Naval Forces in Europe, then arrived New York 17 July 1926 to prepare for flagship duty with the Asiatic Fleet. She sailed 16 October for Chefoo, arriving 23 December. Early in January 1927, she landed sailors and Marines to protect Americans and other foreigners in Shanghai from the turmoil and fighting of the Chinese power struggle. When Chiang Kai-shek's Cantonese Army won control of Shanghai in March, "Pittsburgh" resumed operations on patrol and exercises with the Asiatic Fleet. Closing her long career of service, she carried the Governor General of the Philippines, Dwight F. Davis on a courtesy cruise to such ports as Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Belawan, Batavia (Jakarta), Surabaya, Bali, Makassar, and Sandakan, returning to Manila 15 April 1931. Six days later, she steamed for Suez en route Hampton Roads, arriving 26 June 1931. Decommissioning 10 July 1931, she was sold for scrapping under the terms of the London Naval Treaty to Union Shipbuilding, Baltimore, Maryland, 21 December 1931.

The bow ornament of the "Pittsburgh" was presented to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it was installed overlooking Junction Hollow at the western edge of the school's campus. Today the ornament resides in the Carnegie Institute's archives; a replica of it, however, is still in place at the modern Carnegie Mellon University. ( [http://www.library.cmu.edu/Research/ArchArch/ACampusRenewed/Roberts.html] )

References

* Alden, John D. "American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
* Friedman, Norman. "U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1984. ISBN 0870217186
* Musicant, Ivan. "U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217143

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p7/pittsburgh-ii.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Pittsburgh"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/acr4/acr4.htm navsource.org: USS "Pennsylvania"]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/cruisers/acr4.txt hazegray.org: USS "Pennsylvania"]