Attention Naval historians: Your input is needed; a battle over battleships may be brewing. According to the late Jim Schock, publisher of The Bridge, A Celebration, the caption for the above photo of the “Ships of the Pacific Fleet” bears the date “1934”; that’s 90+ years ago and equates accurately with the bridge’s construction at that time.
However, the four battleships headed to sea pose a question. Research indicates that following the Washington Disarmament Conference of 1921; no U.S. battleships were built between 1923 and 1941. This inquiry also shows the USS Pennsylvania was commissioned in 1916; made flagship of the Pacific Fleet in 1934; and was in San Francisco in April of 1935. So she’s likely the one leading the other three battleships to training exercises off the Hawaiian Islands.
Does that mean ships following the Pennsylvania were, as she was, nearly 20 years old? Or even older? And what were their names? Also, what ever happened to the USS Pennsylvania? Searches indicate she was in dry-dock during the attack on Pearl Harbor and only slightly damaged. She then provided gunfire support for amphibious operations in the Aleutian and Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam, Peleliu and the Philippines Islands. Then in 1945 the Pennsylvania (BB-28) was badly damaged at Okinawa and withdrawn from action prior to the end of WWII. In 1946, she was a target in the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests and so polluted she was eventually scuttled in deep water off the atoll in 1948 at age 32. Does that sound correct?
