Pennsylvania was one of the "nine ships to rate not less than 74 guns each" authorized by the
U.S. 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: •
Spar deck: two 9-pounder (4 kg) cannons and one small brass swivel. •
Main deck: four 8 inch (203 mm) chambered cannons received from Norfolk in 1842, and thirty-two 32 pounder (15 kg) cannons. •
Middle deck: four 8 inch chambered cannons received from Norfolk in 1842, and thirty 32 pounder cannons. •
Lower deck: four 8 inch chambered cannons and 28 × 32 pounder cannons.
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 (then called "Gosport") for the coppering of her hull. She departed New Castle 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. A few days before 18 September 1838,
Pennsylvania was driven ashore at Norfolk. She remained
in ordinary until 1842 when she became a
receiving ship for the Norfolk Navy Yard. She remained in the yard until 20 April 1861 when she was burned to the waterline to prevent her falling into
Confederate hands. Her wreck was salvaged and broken up. ==References==