USS Pennsylvania ( ACR - 4 ) The second USS " Pennsylvania " ( ACR - 4 ) , also referred to as Armored Cruiser No . 4 , and later renamed Pittsburgh and numbered CA - 4 , was a United States Navy armored cruiser , the lead ship of her class . She was laid down on 7 August 1901 by William Cramp and Sons , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , launched on 22 August 1903 , sponsored by Miss Coral Quay ( daughter of Senator Matthew S . Quay of Pennsylvania ) , and commissioned on 9 March 1905 , Captain Thomas C . McLean in command . Service history . Pre - World War I . " Pennsylvania " operated on the East Coast of the United States and in the Caribbean until 8 September 1906 , when she cleared Newport for the Asiatic Station , returning to San Francisco on 27 September 1907 for west coast duty . She visited Chile and Peru in 1910 . On 18 January 1911 , a plane flown by Eugene Ely from the Tanforan airfield in San Bruno , California landed on a platform constructed on her afterdeck . This was the first successful aircraft landing on a ship , and the first using a tailhook apparatus , thus opening the era of naval aviation and aircraft carrier s . While in reserve at Puget Sound from 1 July 1911 – 30 May 1913 , the cruiser trained naval militia . She was renamed Pittsburgh on 27 August 1912 to free the Pennsylvania name for a new battleship . World War I . Recommissioning , " Pittsburgh " patrolled the west coast of Mexico during the troubled times of insurrection that led to American involvement with the Veracruz landing in April 1914 . Later , as a symbol of American might and concern , she served as flagship for Admiral William B . Caperton — Commander in Chief , Pacific Fleet — during South American patrols and visits during World War I . Cooperating with the British , she scouted German raiders and acted as a powerful deterrent against their penetration of the eastern Pacific . Future Rear Admiral Ellis M . Zacharias served as a line officer aboard " Pittsburgh " during World War I . Future Governor of American Samoa George Landenberger commanded the vessel . Inter - war period . Returning to the east coast , " Pittsburgh " prepared for duty as flagship for Commander , U . S . Naval Forces in the eastern Mediterranean , for which she sailed from Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 19 June 1919 . Cruising the Adriatic , Aegean , and Black Seas , she joined in the massive relief operations and other humanitarian concerns with which the Navy carried out its quasi - diplomatic functions in this troubled area . In June 1920 , she sailed north to visit French and British ports and cruise the Baltic Sea on further relief assignments before returning to decommission at Philadelphia on 15 October 1921 . On 9 September 1920 , she ran aground on rocks off the coast of Libau . She was assisted by and USS " Frederick " ; " Frederick " escorted her to Sheerness Royal Dockyard , Kent , England which she reached at 10 : 00 o ' clock in the morning of 23 September . Before 12 October she had moved up river to Chatham Dockyard where she went into dry dock . On that date a team from the " Pittsburgh " routed a team of British officers 21 - 8 at baseball . The following month , with the " Pittsburgh " still in dry dock a court martial absolved Captain Todd of blame for the grounding but the navigator and watch officer were held accountable . Recommissioned on 2 October 1922 , " Pittsburgh " returned to European and Mediterranean waters as flagship of Naval Forces Europe . By 10 July 1923 " Pittsburgh " was in the harbor at Cherbourg , France to disembark 3 officers and 60 enlisted men of her Marine Detachment . They were detailed to travel to the dedication of the Belleau Woods National Monument to the American Expeditionary Force . Belleau Woods was where the US Marine Corps made a famous stand during the Allied Campaign of 1918 . " Pittsburgh " became flagship for two of the Commander - in - Chiefs , US Naval Forces European Waters , Admiral Philip Andrews in 1924 – 1925 and Vice - Admiral Roger Welles in 1925 – 1926 . The ship arrived at New York on 17 July 1926 to prepare for flagship duty with the Asiatic Fleet , during which time she was partially refitted , including the removal of her forward stack ( making her unique to her class ) and removal and plating over several guns . She sailed on 16 October for Chefoo , arriving on 23 December . Early in January 1927 , she landed sailors and Marines to protect Americans and other foreigners in Shanghai from the turmoil and fighting of the Chinese power struggle . When Chiang Kai - shek ' s Cantonese Army won control of Shanghai in March , " Pittsburgh " resumed operations on patrol and exercises with the Asiatic Fleet . Closing her long career of service , she carried the Governor General of the Philippines , Dwight F . Davis on a courtesy cruise to such ports as Saigon , Bangkok , Singapore , Belawan , Batavia ( Jakarta ) , Surabaya , Bali , Makassar , and Sandakan , returning to Manila on 15 April 1931 . Six days later , she steamed for Suez " en route " to Hampton Roads , arriving on 26 June . Decommissioning on 10 July , she was sold for scrapping under the terms of the London Naval Treaty to Union Shipbuilding , Baltimore , Maryland on 21 December . " Pittsburgh " s bow ornament was presented to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , where it was installed overlooking Junction Hollow at the western edge of the school ' s campus . Today , the ornament is on display at Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial ; a replica of it is still in place at the modern Carnegie Mellon University . Memorial bell . The number 3 bell at Rochester Cathedral , England , bears the inscription " U . S . S . PITTSBURGH IN MEMORY OF 1920 " . According to Love ' s Guide to the Church Bells of Kent :