USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)
Biography
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) was the lead ship of the Pennsylvania-class battleships, commissioned 12 June 1916 at Newport News, Virginia, and served as flagship of the Atlantic and later Pacific fleets during the interwar period. The ship was in drydock with USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Downes (DD-375) at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack of 7 December 1941; though Pennsylvania was strafed and struck by a bomb that destroyed a gun mount, she remained afloat and returned to active service, unlike the two destroyers sharing her drydock. During the remainder of the war, the ship served as flagship of the Fifth Amphibious Force and provided bombardment support for the invasions of Makin, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok in 1943 and 1944. Pennsylvania took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, one of the last engagements between battle lines of opposing battleships, and provided fire support for the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945. On 12 August 1945, the ship was seriously damaged by a Japanese aerial torpedo off Okinawa, becoming the last major U.S. Navy vessel damaged in the war. Pennsylvania received eight battle stars for World War II service and was later used as a target ship in the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests before being scuttled at sea in 1948.