I understand that USS Utah was essentially a target ship at this point with her main armament removed and logs scattered across her deck so that planes could practice bombing ships. She towed a target, but the airman would sometimes drop the practice bomb on her deck my mistake. She had a good compliment of anti-aircraft guns still on her, but they were covered, and the crew was unable to man them before she took the torpedo hits that eventually brought her down.
USS Utah does not get much attention like the other ships that were present at Pearl Harbor. If you think about it she took hits that may have gone to other more important ships. She should be remembered equally as the others.
Agreed! Considering she went down with a MOH awardee on board, she’s almost completely forgotten. They make a big a deal about all the MOH awardee’s of that day (rightfully so of course) but, forget the ship 1 MOH awardee died on & is still aboard at his post if I remember correctly.
I remember when we were rounding Ford island the guys where saying to me what ship was that they started asking me i said that was the uss Utah not as famous as the Arizona but still sunk as you see
My father was on the USS Utah when it was sunk. Nice view of the timbers which had been laid on the deck plates when she was recommissioned as an aerial target ship. My theory is that the Utah was deliberately attacked. Genda was a kendo player in the run up to the war and as such he would have realized the essential role of the motodachi in instruction. See this essay for a more comprehensive discussion on the role of the motodachi in instructing the attacker. By eliminating the training ship for training aerial attacks by the USN at minimal expenditure of ordinance, the IJN planners hoped to reduce the role of the USN aircraft carriers by hindering flight training. www.kendomalta.org/2012/03/the-concept-of-motodachi/
But the ship went through a major overhaul in early 1941 to train recruits on new anti-aircraft systems, including the 5 inch dual purpose gun. I guess it made the ship a prime target, unfortunately for those on board.
