Qualla: USS Utah (BB-31)

USS Utah (BB-31): Introduction

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The Japanese pilots who attacked her were looking for aircraft carriers. USS Utah was moored at berth F-11 off Ford Island on the morning of December 7, 1941, occupying a spot where American carriers normally anchored. Six torpedo bombers from the carrier Soryu broke formation and launched against her, apparently mistaking the wooden boxes covering her empty gun barbettes for turrets. Two torpedoes struck home. By 8:12 a.m. -- barely twelve minutes into the attack -- Utah had rolled onto her port side and settled into the mud of Pearl Harbor. Fifty-eight men died. Her rusting hull remains there today, partially above water, on the quiet northwest side of Ford Island where most tourists never go.

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Image: Public domain

USS Utah (BB-31): A Dreadnought's Long Career

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Department of the Navy. Bureau of Yards and Docks. New York (Brooklyn) Navy Yard. 1862-9/18/1947, Public domain. Utah was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, laid down in March 1909 and commissioned in August 1911 with ten 12-inch guns in five twin turrets and a crew of over a thousand. Her career reads like a survey of American military engagement in the early twentieth century...

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Image: Department of the Navy. Bureau of Yards and Docks. New York (Brooklyn) Navy Yard. 1862-9/18/1947 | Public domain

USS Utah (BB-31): The Ship the Navy Shot At

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Harley Flowers from Mobile, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Under the London Naval Treaty of 1930, Utah was demilitarized and converted into a radio-controlled target ship, redesignated AG-16. Her primary and secondary weapons were removed, though the turret structures remained. What replaced them was something remarkable: a remote-contro...

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Image: Harley Flowers from Mobile, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

USS Utah (BB-31): Twelve Minutes

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. On the morning of December 7, Utah had just completed another round of anti-aircraft training. Some crewmen saw the approaching Japanese aircraft and assumed they were American. Then bombs began falling near a seaplane ramp on Ford Island. The six torpedo bombers that broke off t...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

USS Utah (BB-31): The Forgotten Memorial

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Naval History & Heritage Command from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY 2.0. Unlike the battleships sunk along Battleship Row, Utah had no military value worth salvaging. The Navy attempted to right her using the same parbuckling method that recovered the capsized Oklahoma, but Utah slid toward Ford Island instead of gripping the harbor bottom. The effort...

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Image: Naval History & Heritage Command from Washington, DC, USA | CC BY 2.0