Her profile included four smoke funnels at midships bookended by two main masts. Her bridge section was appropriately held well-forward in the design with a commanding view over the forecastle. A primary turret was fitted fore and the other aft while smaller-caliber guns protruded from her upper hull sides.
Her first actions involved cruising the American east coast and Caribbean waters. In late 1906 she was sent to Asia to enforce American trade routes and interests overseas concerning the Pacific. The vessel then operated along the American west coast for the latter half of 1907 and managed calls at Chile and Peru during 1910. Prior o 1911, she underwent a refit which changed her propulsion scheme to include 8 x modified boilers with 12 x Babcock & Wilcox boiler units. Her added two more saluting guns and lost her 12 x 3-pounders. USS Pennsylvania then became the recipient of the first fixed-wing aircraft landing on a ship (with arrestor hook) when the event was recorded on January 18th, 1911. To accommodate the task, a short flight deck was added over her stern section. The event took place at San Francisco Bay, California with Eugene Ely at the controls of a pusher-powered biplane.
She was sent to reserve in mid-1911 and used as a trainer for a time. Because of the influx of new American battleships, she lost the name "Pennsylvania" and was recommissioned as "USS Pittsburgh" on August 27th, 1912, ending her days under this name - though reclassified on July 17th, 1920 under the hull symbol of (CA-4). Prior to 1921, she was part of another refit.
As Pittsburgh she continued her ocean-going career before being sold off for scrap on December 21st, 1931.
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