USS Utah (BB-31) - Attack On Pearl Harbor

Attack On Pearl Harbor

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, the erstwhile battleship 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 in × 12 in (150 mm × 300 mm) 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. Another man—Fireman John B. Vaessen—remained at his post in the dynamo room, making sure that the ship had enough power to keep her lights going as long as possible.

Commander Isquith made an inspection to make sure men were out and nearly became trapped himself. As the ship began to turn over, he found an escape hatch blocked. While he was attempting to escape through a porthole, a table upon which he was standing, impelled by the ever-increasing list of the ship, slipped out from beneath him. Fortunately, a man outside grabbed Isquith's arm and pulled him through at the last instant.

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 C-in-C 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.