ca4

Cruiser USS Pennsylvania Glenn Curtiss February 17,1911 San Diego , California " The test was made to show the Navy Department that the aeroplane equipped like that of Curtiss does not need an especially constructed platform on a ship's deck to make it of practical use to the Navy" ( New York Daily Tribune February 18,1911) Glenn Curtiss: " In making the test I used an experimental machine fitted with the same type of float and hydro -surfaces used in my successful water flights with the exception that I placed the propeller in front of the planes instead of behind, as in the case of the standard Curtiss machine." ( New York Evening World February 18, 1911)

Commissioned as USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), Armored Cruiser in 1905. Renamed USS Pittsburgh (CA-4) in 1912 to free the name Pennsylvania for a new battleship. (From "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" (1970) - Notable events In 1910-11, a plane landed on and took off from a platform constructed on her afterdeck, opening the era of naval aviation. Patrolled off Mexico during insurrection which led to American involvement with the Vera Cruz landing in April 1914. Landed sailors/Marines at Shanghai in 1927, to protect Americans/foreigners during the Chinese power struggle. Carrying the Governor General of the Philippines, Dwight F. Davis on a courtesy cruise, she returned to Manila 15 April 1931. On 21 April she steamed for Suez enroute Hampton Roads. Decommissioned 10 July 1931, sold for scrapping December 1931.

That is a pre-dreadnought vessel, the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania. This is one of the first landings of an aircraft onto a ship.