usspennsylvania

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)

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

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: