Battleship Row - USS Utah
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USS Utah (BB-31/AG-16) was a battleship that was attacked and sunk in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. A Florida-class battleship, she was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the U.S. state of Utah. A true "dreadnought" type battleship of the short transition dreadnought era with 10 12" pre-dreadnought type guns ("pre-dreadnoughts" of only a few years earlier usually carried four) it was only a few years before the type was made obsolete by the first super-dreadnoughts with 14" guns that started to see service just prior to WWI. However, the type still gave useful service through the 1920's. Prior to World War II, she had declined in usefulness and had been converted to a remotely controlled bombing target and gunnery target tow, redesignated AG-16. However, she was later refitted and rearmed and was in use for training purposes when sunk by a torpedo in the Japanese attack.
Utah was laid down on 9 March 1909 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 23 December 1909 under the sponsorship of Miss Mary Alice Spry, daughter of Utah Governor William Spry; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 31 August 1911, Captain William S. Benson in command.
Utah completed an advanced anti-aircraft gunnery cruise in Hawaiian waters shortly before she returned to Pearl Harbor in early December 1941, mooring off Ford Island in berth F-11. On the morning of 7 December 1941, the Captain and Executive Officer were ashore on leave, so the senior officer on board was Lieutenant Commander Solomon S. Isquith, the Engineer.
Shortly before 08:00, men topside noted three planes, which they took for American planes on maneuvers, heading in a northerly direction from the harbor entrance. The aircraft made a low dive at the southern end of Ford Island where the seaplane hangars were situated and began dropping bombs.
The Attack on Pearl Harbor lasted a little under two hours, but for Utah, it was over in a few minutes. At 08:01, soon after sailors had begun raising the colors at the ship′s fantail, Utah took a torpedo hit forward and immediately started to list to port and settle hard by the stern.
As the ship began to roll ponderously over on her beam ends, the 6 × 12 in timbers placed on the decks to cushion them against the impact of the bombs used during the ship's latest stint as a mobile target began to shift, hampering the efforts of the crew to abandon ship. Below, men headed topside while they could. One—Chief Watertender Peter Tomich—remained below, making sure that the boilers and water pumps were secured and that all men had got out of the engineering spaces.
At 08:12, the mooring lines snapped, and Utah rolled over on her beam ends. Her survivors struck out for shore, some taking shelter on the mooring quays since Japanese strafers were active.
Shortly after most of the men had reached shore, Commander Isquith, and others, heard a knocking from within the overturned ship′s hull. Although Japanese planes were still strafing the area, Isquith called for volunteers to return to the hull and investigate the tapping. Obtaining a cutting torch from Raleigh (herself fighting for survival after taking early torpedo hits), the men went to work.
As a result of the persistence shown by four men belowdecks (Warrant Machinist S.A. Szymanski, Chief Machinist′s Mate Terrance MacSelwiney, and two others whose names were unrecorded), one man—Fireman John (Jack) Vaessen—escaped from a would-be tomb. Vaessen had made his way to the bottom of the ship when she capsized, bearing a flashlight and wrench.
Utah was declared "in ordinary" on 29 December and was placed under the control of the Pearl Harbor Base Force. Partially righted to clear an adjacent berth, she was then declared "out of commission, not in service," on 5 September 1944. As the ship had little military value no effort was expended to refloat her. Utah′s name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 November. Her partially submerged hulk still remains, rusting, at Pearl Harbor with 54 men still entombed inside.
In 1956, the Commander-in-Chief 14th Naval District proposed salvaging the wreck to clear her berthing space for the Essex class aircraft carriers and to remove an obstruction from the channel. It was decided to make this a training exercise in harbor clearance to maximise the value of the expense incurred. The Bureau of Ships negated the project, saying that funds and personnel were unavailable, and that the equipment necessary had been sold. It seems likely that the real reason was that moral qualms arose about disturbing the war grave of the men whose remains rested inside her.
In 1972, a memorial in honor of the crew of Utah was dedicated on the northwest shore of Ford Island, adjacent to the ship's wreck. Access to the memorial is restricted to military personnel; members of the public must be sponsored and accompanied by an authorized person to visit.
Of Utah′s complement, 30 officers and 431 enlisted men survived the ship′s loss; six officers and 52 enlisted men died. Four of the latter were recovered and interred ashore, as are seven Unknowns from Utah. One of those known interred ashore was a survivor of the sinking in the harbor, only to be shot by accident on another ship. Chief Watertender Tomich received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his selfless act in ensuring the safety of others.
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