The USS Pennsylvania, Ship-of-the-Line

Of course, I've been doing a lot with Pearl Harbor this month. The Battleship Pennsylvania, which was damaged in drydock during the attack, was not the first US ship to bear the name. I was reading about the USS Merrimack which became the CSS Virginia. When the it was burned, several other ships suffered a similar fate. Yet, you usually only hear about the Merrimack. What about the others?

There was another USS Pennsylvania that was launched in 1837 and was destroyed April 20, 1861 to prevent her from falling into enemy hands when the Confederates captured Gosport Naval Yard.

A ship-of-the-line was the capital ship of navies back in the early 1800s.. This Pennsylvania mounted 120 guns on three decks. Construction began in 1821, but it wasn't completed until 1837 because of tight budgets.

The Pennsylvania was launched on November 29, 1837. In 1838, its crew was transferred to the USS Columbia. It was then laid up in ordinary until 1842 when it became a receiving ship for the Norfolk Naval Yard. I always thought a receiving ship was a place where visitors came aboard, but as it turns out, a receiving ship was used to house new sailors before assignment.

A receiving ship was also a good thing to prevent "unwilling recruits" from leaving as many couldn't swim.

So, this USS Pennsylvania did not achieve a whole lot of glory before her demise.

I'll discuss the other vessels in the future.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the info.

And, Now You Know. --B-Run