USS Pennsylvania (1837)
Currier & Ives lithograph of USS Pennsylvania, 1846
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS Pennsylvania |
| Namesake: | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania |
| Ordered: | 29 April 1816 |
| Builder: | Philadelphia Navy Yard |
| Cost: | $687,026 (exclusive of armament) |
| Laid down: | September 1821 |
| Launched: | 18 July 1837 |
| Commissioned: | late 1837 |
| Fate: | Burned, 20 April 1861 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 3,241 tons burden |
| Length: | 210 ft (64 m) |
| Beam: | 56 ft 9 in (17.30 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 24 ft 4 in (7.42 m) |
| Sail plan: | ship rig |
| Complement: | 1,100 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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USS Pennsylvania was a three-decked ship of the line of the United States Navy, rated at 130 guns, and named for the state of Pennsylvania. She was the largest sailing warship ever built for the United States, the equivalent of a first-rate of the British Royal Navy. Authorized in 1816 and launched in 1837, her only cruise was a single trip from Delaware Bay through Chesapeake Bay to the Norfolk Navy Yard. The ship became a receiving ship, and during the Civil War was destroyed.
Pennsylvania was one of the "nine ships to rate not less than 74 guns each" authorized by the US Congress on 29 April 1816. She was designed and built by Samuel Humphreys in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Her keel was laid in September 1821, but tight budgets slowed her construction, preventing her being launched until 18 July 1837. The largest sailing warship ever built for the United States, she had three complete gun decks and a flush spar-deck and her hull was pierced for 136 guns.
Exploding shell guns were replacing solid shot by the time Pennsylvania was fitting out. A Bureau of Ordnance Gun Register for 1846 records her armament as follows:
Pennsylvania shifted from her launching site to off Chester, Pennsylvania, on 29 November 1837 and was partially manned there the following day. Only 34 of her guns were noted as having been mounted on 3 December 1837. She stood downriver for New Castle, Delaware, 9 December, to receive gun carriages and other equippage before proceeding to the Norfolk Navy Yard for coppering her hull. She departed Newcastle on 20 December 1837 and discharged the Delaware pilot on the 25th. That afternoon she sailed for the Virginia Capes. She came off the Norfolk dry dock on 2 January 1838. That day her crew transferred to Columbia.
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