USS Utah ( BB - 31 ) USS " Utah " ( BB - 31 ) was the second and final member of the of dreadnought battleship s . The only ship of the United States Navy named after the state of Utah , she had one sister ship , . " Utah " was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation , laid down in March 1909 and launched in December of that year . She was completed in August 1911 , and boasted a main battery of ten guns in five twin gun turret s . " Utah " and " Florida " were the first ships to arrive during the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914 during the Mexican Revolution . The two battleships sent ashore a landing party that began the occupation of the city . After the American entrance into World War I , " Utah " was stationed in Bantry Bay , Ireland , where she protected convoys from potential German surface raiders . Throughout the 1920s , the ship conducted numerous training cruises and fleet maneuvers , and carried dignitaries on tours of South America twice , in 1924 and 1928 . In 1931 , " Utah " was demilitarized and converted into a target ship , in accordance with the terms of the London Naval Treaty signed the previous year . She was also equipped with numerous anti - aircraft guns of different types to train gunners for the fleet . She served in these two roles for the rest of the decade , and late 1941 found the ship in Pearl Harbor . She was in port on the morning of 7 December , and in the first minutes of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , was hit by two torpedoes , which caused serious flooding . " Utah " quickly rolled over and sank ; the vast majority of her crew were able to escape , but 64 men were killed in the attack . The wreck remains in the harbor , and in 1972 , a memorial was erected near the ship . Design . " Utah " was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load . The ship was powered by four - shaft Parsons steam turbines rated at and twelve coal - fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers , generating a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . She had a crew of 1001 officers and men . The ship was armed with a main battery of twin 12 inch / 45 Mark 5 guns in five twin gun turret s on the centerline , two of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward . The other three turrets were placed aft of the superstructure . The secondary battery consisted of sixteen 5 - inch / 51 guns mounted in casemate s along the side of the hull . As was standard for capital ship s of the period , she carried a pair of torpedo tube s , submerged in her hull on the broadside . The main armored belt was thick , while the armored deck was thick . The gun turrets had thick faces and the conning tower had thick sides . Service history . " Utah " was laid down at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation on 15 March 1909 . She was launched on 23 December 1909 , and commissioned into the US Navy on 31 August 1911 . She then conducted a shakedown cruise that stopped in Hampton Roads , Santa Rosa Island , Pensacola , Galveston , Kingston , Jamaica , and Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . She was then assigned to the Atlantic Fleet in March 1912 , after which time she participated in gunnery drills . She underwent an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard starting on 16 April . " Utah " left New York on 1 June and proceeded to Annapolis by way of Hampton Roads , arriving on 6 June . From there , she took a crew of naval cadets from the Naval Academy on a midshipman training cruise off the coast of New England , which lasted until 25 August . For the next two years , " Utah " followed a similar routine of training exercises and midshipman cruises in the Atlantic . During the period 8 – 30 November 1913 , " Utah " made a goodwill cruise to European waters , which included a stop in Villefranche , France . In early 1914 during the Mexican Revolution , the United States decided to intervene in the fighting . While en route to Mexico on 16 April , " Utah " was ordered to intercept the German - flagged steamer , which was carrying arms to the Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta . " Ypiranga " s arrival in Veracruz prompted the US to occupy the city ; " Utah " and her sister ship were the first American vessels on the scene . The two ships landed a combined contingent of a thousand marines and bluejackets to begin the occupation of the city on 21 April . Over the next three days , the marines battled rebels in the city and suffered 94 casualties , while killing hundreds of Mexicans in return . " Utah " remained off Veracruz for two months , before she returned to the New York Navy Yard for an overhaul in late June . She spent the next three years conducting the normal routine of training with the Atlantic Fleet . On 6 April 1917 , the United States declared war on Germany over its unrestricted submarine warfare campaign against Britain and entered World War I . " Utah " was stationed in Chesapeake Bay to train engine room personnel and gunners for the rapidly expanding fleet until 30 August 1918 , when she departed for Bantry Bay , Ireland with Vice Admiral Henry T . Mayo , Commander - in - Chief of the Atlantic Fleet aboard . After arriving in Ireland , " Utah " was assigned as the flagship of Battleship Division 6 ( BatDiv 6 ) , commanded by Rear Admiral Thomas S . Rodgers . BatDiv 6 was tasked with covering convoys in the Western Approaches against possible attacks from German surface raiders . " Utah " served in the division along with and . Following the end of the war in November 1918 , " Utah " visited the Isle of Portland in Britain , and escorted the liner in December , which carried President Woodrow Wilson to Brest , France , for the post - war peace negotiations at Versailles . " Utah " left Brest on 14 December , and arrived in New York on the 25th of the month . She remained there until 30 January 1919 , after which time she returned to the normal peacetime routine of fleet exercises and training cruises . On 9 July 1921 , " Utah " departed for Europe , stopping in Lisbon , Portugal , and Cherbourg , France . After arriving , she became the flagship of American warships in Europe . She carried on in this role until she was relieved by the armored cruiser in October 1922 . " Utah " returned to the US on 21 October , where she returned to her old post as the flagship of BatDiv 6 . In early 1924 , " Utah " took part in the Fleet Problem III maneuvers , where she and her sister " Florida " acted as stand - ins for the new s . Later that year , " Utah " was chosen to carry the US diplomatic mission to the centennial celebration of the Battle of Ayacucho , which took place on 9 December 1924 . She left New York on 22 November with General of the Armies John J . Pershing aboard for a goodwill tour of South America ; " Utah " arrived at Callao , Peru , on 9 December . At the conclusion of Pershing ' s tour , " Utah " met him at Montevideo , Uruguay , and then carried him to other ports , including Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , La Guaira , Venezuela , and Havana , Cuba . The tour ultimately ended when " Utah " returned Pershing to New York on 13 March 1925 . " Utah " conducted midshipman training cruises over the summer of 1925 . She was decommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 31 October 1925 , and placed in drydock for modernization . The modernization replaced her coal - fired boilers with new oil - fired models , and her aft cage mast was replaced with a pole mast . " Utah " returned to active duty on 1 December , after which she served with the Scouting Fleet . She left Hampton Roads on 21 November 1928 for another South American cruise . This time , she picked up President - elect Herbert C . Hoover and his entourage in Montevideo , and transported them to Rio de Janeiro in December , and then carried them home to the United States , arriving in Hampton Roads on 6 January 1929 . According to the terms of the London Naval Treaty of 1930 , " Utah " was converted into a radio - controlled target ship , to replace the older . On 1 July 1931 , " Utah " was accordingly redesignated " AG - 16 " , and subsequently converted into a target ship . Work was completed by 1 April 1932 , when she was recommissioned . On 7 April , " Utah " left Norfolk for sea trials to train her engine room crew and to test the radio - control equipment . She passed her radio control trials on 6 May , and on 1 June , the ship was operated for 3 hours under radio control . On 9 June , she again left Norfolk , bound for San Pedro , California , where she joined Training Squadron 1 , Base Force , United States Fleet . Starting in late July , the ship began her first round of target duty , first for the cruisers of the Pacific Fleet , and then for the battleship " Nevada " . She continued in this role for the next nine years ; she participated in Fleet Problem XVI in May 1935 , during which she served as a transport for a contingent of Marines . In June , the ship was modified to train anti - aircraft gunners in addition to her target ship duties . To perform this task , she was equipped with / 75 cal anti - aircraft gun s in quadruple mounts . " Utah " returned to the Atlantic to participate in Fleet Problem XX in January 1939 , and at the end of the year , she trained with Submarine Squadron 6 . She then returned to the Pacific , arriving in Pearl Harbor on 1 August 1940 . There , she conducted anti - aircraft gunnery training until 14 December , when she departed for Long Beach , California , arriving on 21 December . There , she served as a bombing target for aircraft from the carriers , , and . She returned to Pearl Harbor on 1 April 1941 , where she resumed anti - aircraft gunnery training . She cruised to Los Angeles on 20 May to carry a contingent of Marines from the Fleet Marine Force to Bremerton , Washington , after which she entered the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 31 May , where she was overhauled . She was equipped with new / 38 cal dual purpose gun s in single mounts to improve her ability to train anti - aircraft gunners . She left Puget Sound on 14 September , bound for Pearl Harbor , where she resumed her normal duties through the rest of the year . Attack on Pearl Harbor . In early December 1941 , " Utah " was moored off Ford Island in berth F - 11 , after having completed another round of anti - aircraft gunnery training . Shortly before 08 : 00 on the morning of 7 December , some crewmen aboard " Utah " observed the first Japanese planes approaching to attack Pearl Harbor , but they assumed they were American aircraft . The Japanese began their attack shortly thereafter , concentrating on the battleships moored around Ford Island . At 08 : 01 , the first of two torpedoes struck " Utah " , which caused serious flooding . The ship began to list to port and settle by the stern . As the crew began to abandon ship , one man — Chief Watertender Peter Tomich — remained below decks to ensure as many men could escape , and to keep vital machinery running as long as possible ; he received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions . At 08 : 12 , " Utah " rolled over onto her side , while those crew members who had managed to escape swam to shore . Almost immediately after reaching shore , the ship ' s captain , Commander Solomon Isquith , heard knocking from men trapped in the capsized ship . He called for volunteers to secure a cutting torch from the badly damaged cruiser and attempt to free trapped men ; they succeeded in rescuing four men . In total , 64 officers and men were killed , though 461 survived . Salvage . The Navy declared " Utah " to be " in ordinary " on 29 December , and she was placed under the authority of the Pearl Harbor Base Force . Following the successful " righting " ( rotation to upright ) of the capsized , an attempt was made to right the " Utah " by the same parbuckling method using 17 winches . As " Utah " was rotated , she did not grip the harbor bottom , and slid towards Ford Island . The " Utah " recovery effort was abandoned , with " Utah " rotated 38 degrees from horizontal . As abandoned , " Utah " cleared her berth . There was no further attempt to refloat her ; unlike the battleships sunk at Battleship Row , she had no military value . She was formally placed out of commission on 5 September 1944 , and then stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 November . " Utah " received one battle star for her brief service during World War II . Her rusting hulk remains in Pearl Harbor , partially above water ; the men killed when " Utah " sank were never removed from the wreck , and as such , she is considered a war grave . Memorial . In around 1950 , two memorials were placed at the wreck dedicated to the men in the ship ' s crew who were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor . The first is a plaque located on the wharf to the north of the ship , and the second is a plaque that was placed on the ship itself . In 1972 , a larger memorial was erected just off Ford Island , near the sunken wreck . The memorial consists of a walkway made of white concrete , which extends from Ford Island out to a platform in front of the ship , where a brass plaque and a flagpole are located . A color guard stands watch over the wreck . On 9 July 1988 , " Utah " and , the other remaining wreck in the harbor , were nominated to be added to the National Historic Landmark registry . Both wrecks were added to the list on 5 May 1989 . As of 2008 , seven former crewmen who were aboard " Utah " at the time of her sinking have been cremated and had their ashes interred in the wreck . Relics from the ship are also preserved in the Utah state capitol building ; among the items on display are pieces from the ship ' s silver service and the captain ' s clock . Notes . Footnotes Citations References . Online sources