Hydro Junkie

Low freeboard should be expected with the 1914 vintage Pennsylvania class dreadnaughts. Being nothing more than repeats of the Nevada class, albeit with two more 14" guns, they were low and very wet by comparison to the later New Mexico, Tennessee and Colorado classes that followed. Having a vertical bow was part of the problem, as was the extra weight added during modernization in the 1930s. The later three classes all had a clipper style bow and a higher main deck forward than the earlier classes, though they were not significantly faster. Doing research on this, I found it almost ironic that the only battleship to get underway at Pearl Harbor, the Nevada, was the only operational ship of either the Nevada or Pennsylvania class at the end of the war. The Oklahoma was gutted by torpedoes and the Arizona destroyed by bombs at Pearl Harbor, the Pennsylvania was virtually destroyed aft of the #4 turret by a Japanese torpedo attack in 1945, limping back to Pearl Harbor after being temporarily repaired.