Many people have visited the
USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor but few have visited the
USS Utah Memorial on the west side of Ford Island in Pearl Harbor - as it is not open to the general public. I took a boat tour that allowed tourists to see the remains of the
USS Utah but that was pre-9/11. They don't allow that anymore.
The Utah was used as a target ship and the Japanese pilots were specifically told to leave it be but I guess it made for too tempting of a target and as it was berthed where an aircraft carrier usually was, it was hammered. After taking two aerial torpedo strikes the Utah began to list and settle. As the crew began to abandon the doomed ship, Chief Watertender Tomich stayed below, secured the boilers and ensure that all the firemen in the area got out. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. A total 58 men were lost on the USS Utah and remain in the wreckage, while almost 500 were able to escape. After a failed attempt at salvage, the
USS Utah was left as it was. Considered a war grave, survivors of the Utah are eligible to be
interned with their shipmates on board - the Navy is happy to do so if that is their wish.
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USS Utah Memorial today:
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