shipchristening

Louise Goff Reece (November 6, 1898 – May 14, 1970), American politician and United States Representative from Tennessee en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Goff_Reece She was the daughter of Guy Despard Goff (September 13, 1866 – January 7, 1933), United States Senator from West Virginia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_D._Goff Until her marriage to B. Carroll Reece, she appeared as Louise Despard Goff resp. Louise Despard-Goff in the papers, s. e.g. - Evening star. [volume], October 31, 1923, Page 8, col. 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1923-10-31/ed-... - The Washington herald., March 15, 1921, Page 7, col. 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045433/1921-03-15/ed-...

B-59: thank you for the details about Louise Goff Reece. We will add more to the description when we update.

On March 17, 1915, the 15,000 ton superdreadnaught USS Pensylvania was launched at the Newport News (Virginia) Shipbuilding Drydock Company. It was the largest battleship ever launched anywhere in the world, Miss Elizabeth Ludoff Kolb (1896-1979) of Germantown, Pennsylvania, daughter of Louis J. Kolb of Philadelphia and a senior at National Park Seminary in Forest Glen, Maryland, had been invited to the launching ceremonies by Pennsylvania Governor Brumbaugh (term 1915-1919), who called her "the most beautiful and sweetest girl in Pennsylvania". Elizabeth was the official "sponsor" of the ship, which, as far as I can tell, means she offered the name for the ship. Nineteen years young, Elizabeth arrived with her maids of honor, fellow classmates Miss Katherine Kolb (1900–1979) (who was also her younger sister), Miss Katherine Martin and Miss Mildred Harold. Following the prayer and with the words "I Christen thee Pennsylvania", Miss Kolb broke a bottle of champagne on the bow and set in motion one of the greatest battleships of all time.

Before the launch:

see