Soon after Eugene B. Ely's historic airplane flight from USS Birmingham Captain Washington I. Chambers, the Navy's aviation officer, proposed that Ely try landing his plane on board ship. The aviator, always searching for new ways to generate publicity for his aerial exhibitions, enthusiastically accepted the proposition, offering to make the attempt in January 1911 at San Francisco, California., where he would be participating in an air meet.

The honor of hosting the landing was assigned to the Pacific Fleet's armored cruiser Pennsylvania, and the Mare Island Navy Yard constructed a temporary wooden platform over her after deck and gun turret. Ely and others devised a method of stopping the plane within the platform's 120 by 30 foot dimensions: a series of ropes, with sandbags at each end, would be stretched across the temporary deck and held above it by boards laid along its length. Hooks were attached to the airplane's landing gear to catch the ropes, and the weight of the sandbags would bring the machine to a rapid halt. In case of an overrun, or a swerve off the platform's edge, Pennsylvania's crew rigged canvas awnings in front and to the sides to catch plane and pilot. This arrangement was a clever one, worked well, and in general pointed the way to the arresting gear and safety barrier system that is employed on the Navy's aircraft carriers to this day.

Shortly before 11 AM on the morning of 18 January 1911, after the usual weather-driven delays, Ely took off from Tanforan racetrack. Pennsylvania was anchored off the San Francisco waterfront, in full view of thousands of spectators ashore, on ships at the city piers, and in a flock of small craft gathered around the cruiser. The little Curtiss pusher biplane came into view, flew around ship to check arrangements and set up the landing course, and then came in toward Pennsylvania's stern. Ely was prepared to handle the existing tailwind, but apparently did not expect the updraft that struck his lightly-loaded plane just as it reached the platform. Fortunately, he responded quickly, dove and snagged the arresting gear about halfway up its length. The Curtiss pulled ropes and sandbags to a smooth stop before reaching any of the safety barriers.

Ely's wife greeted him with and enthusiastic "Oh, boy! I knew you could do it". Pennsylvania's Commanding Officer, Captain Charles F. Pond, took the pilot and important guests below for a celebratory lunch. While they dined, the landing platform was cleared and the plane turned around in preparation for takeoff. Then the Elys, Pond and the others posed for photographs. The pilot then remounted his machine and, about an hour after the World's first shipboard airplane landing, made history's second successful takeoff. Captain Pond sent a favorable report to the Navy Department, Eugene Ely added luster to his reputation as a smart and innovative aviator, and the Navy began the slow process of bringing "flying machines" into its force structure. For the next decade, however, the British Royal Navy would take the lead in the further development of aircraft-carrying warships.