Anyone who has driven through Pennsylvania likely knows that there are rarely "straight" and open roads. The geography of the Keystone State varies from a sea-level marine estuary to a mountainous plateau, with its highest elevation reaching 3,213 feet (979 meters) above sea level. Getting anywhere in the state means driving on winding roads with steep climbs and descends.

That fact is all the more notable for anyone visiting the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg. Opened in 1969, and located in the near dead center of the state, and just a stone's throw from Penn State University, the small museum has several notable pieces in its collection including an M4A1(76)W Sherman tank that saw service in the Second World War.

However, visitors – or even those just driving down the road – will immediately be taken back by a pair of 14-inch naval guns that were on the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), the lead vessel of a class of super-dreadnoughts built for the U.S. Navy just prior to the First World War. Along with her sister ship USS Arizona (BB-39), BB-38 was one of the Navy's "standard-type battleships" that sought to greatly improve the capabilities of the capital ships.

USS Pennsylvania: The Flagship of the U.S. Fleet

On December 7, 1941, the 31,400-ton USS Pennsylvania was the flagship of the United States Fleet and was in drydock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. She took light damage on that fateful day – unlike BB-39, which was damaged beyond repair and remains to this day in the shallow waters of Battleship Row – and returned to service, seeing action in the Pacific.

BB-38 was damaged in a Japanese aerial torpedo attack on August 12, 1945, becoming the last major U.S. Navy ship to be hit in combat in the Second World War. The battleship was repaired but was deemed too old for retention in the post-war fleet. Instead, USS Pennsylvania served as a target in the July 1946 Bikini atomic bomb tests – and was later used in studies conducted to determine the residual radioactivity before being scuttled in February 1948.

Calling Out the Big Guns

While the warship now rests at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, two of her 14-inch .45 caliber guns were preserved, and in 2009 were donated to the Pennsylvania Military Museums, which serves to honor those veterans from the Keystone State, as well as those who served on the warship.

The museum is now home to one of the battleship's bells – which proved to be far easier to transport to central Pennsylvania than the guns.

"It was a labor of love," explained Tyler Gum, the museum's director. "Each weighs around 70 tons, so it wasn't exactly hard work but it was complicated."

The complications were made worse as it required the involvement of three states, with the guns being transported from the U.S. Navy's facilities in Norfolk, Virginia, through neighboring Maryland, and then to Pennsylvania.

"Everything had to be carefully coordinated," Gum told The National Interest. "But the U.S. military can get anything done, it just requires a lot of planning."

The massive guns will remain a fixture in the scenic Pennsylvania countryside for decades to come, and will serve as a reminder that Boalsburg is now the home port for BB-38.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

Image Credit: Peter Suciu.