![]() They were the first in the world to employ the " all or nothing" armor scheme that characterized every succeeding American battleship. The preceding Nevada-class battleships represented a leap forward from previous American battleship technology and from most contemporary foreign designs. Main articles: Nevada-class battleship and Standard-type battleship The Nevada class, represented here by Oklahoma in 1916, were the first American battleship class with triple gun turrets, the " all or nothing" armor concept, oil fuel, and steam turbines with geared cruising turbines (albeit the latter only in Nevada) all of these innovations were continued in the Pennsylvania class. With minimal repairs, she was used in Operation Crossroads, part of the nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll, before being expended as a target ship in 1948. Pennsylvania was severely damaged by a torpedo on 12 August 1945, two days before the cessation of hostilities. ![]() Pennsylvania was present at the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last battle ever between battleships, but did not engage. After a refit from October 1942 to February 1943, Pennsylvania went on to serve as a shore bombardment ship for most of the remainder of the war. Arizona was sunk by a massive magazine explosion and was turned into a memorial after the war, while Pennsylvania, in dry dock at the time, received only minor damage. Both Pennsylvania and Arizona were present during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into the Second World War. For the remainder of the inter-war period, the ships were used in exercises and fleet problems. Both were sent across the Atlantic to France after the war for the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and were then transferred to the Pacific Fleet before being significantly modernized from 1929 to 1931. In service, the Pennsylvania class saw limited use in the First World War, as a shortage of oil fuel in the United Kingdom meant that only the coal-burning ships of Battleship Division Nine were sent. The class was the second standard type battleship class to join the US Navy, along with the preceding Nevada and the succeeding New Mexico, Tennessee and Colorado classes. The Nevada-class battleships represented a marked increase in the United States' dreadnought technology, and the Pennsylvania class was intended to continue this with slight increases in the ships' capabilities, including two additional 14-inch (356 mm)/45 caliber guns and improved underwater protection. They were the newest American capital ships when the United States entered the First World War. Named Pennsylvania and Arizona, after the American states of the same names, the two battleships were the United States' second battleship design to adhere to the " all or nothing" armor scheme. ![]() The Pennsylvania class consisted of two super-dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy just before the First World War.
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