USS Utah

[Stearmen]

I thought this might be appropriate on those being laid to rest in Pearl Harbours forgotten ship, the USS Utah. http://www.dispatch.co.za/news/article/2476

 

[Treetopflyer]

A friend of mine flew to HI to place his Grandfathers ashes at the USS Utah a couple of months ago. His Grandfather was onboard on December 7th 1941.

 

[Stearmen]

On this day, remember the forgotten Pearl Harbor ship, USS Utah, with 60 men still entombed in her shattered hulk!

 

[Stearmen]

Once again, remember the USS Utah!

 

[2jakes]

Once again, remember the USS Utah!

 

[Otter]

If you have not already read it, may I recommend "Descent into Darkness " by Edward Raymer. It covers a lot of the Pearl Harbour aftermath from the point of view of the author, a US Navy salvage diver. I am very surprised he came through it without PTSD

 

[Stearmen]

I know guards posted near the capsized USS Oklahoma reported hearing men banging on the inside of the hull clear up to December 20th! Not sure how any one could come out of that with out some mental scars!

 

[2jakes]

Just finished watching the documentary,
Tora, Tora, Tora: The Real Story of Pearl Harbor.
I've read books and have seen movies.

But to listen to the actual folks that were there is quite
another thing.
Their words and thoughts of how they felt then and now.
Each with their own conclusions and what they were conveying
about this event in history is something that I will remember.

 

[Otter]

One passage that stuck in my mind was when he was passing through a compartment with corpses still floating on the overhead. He could hear their fingers bones scraping across his dive helmet as if they were trying to grab hold of him !

 

[Stearmen]

Incidentally, they did try to right the Utah, with the same methods used to re-float the Oklahoma! Unfortunately, she had been hit to many times and tried to brake up under the strain. Thus Arizona gets all the glory, while the Utah quietly rust away on the other side of ford Island, all but forgotten!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

If you have not already read it, may I recommend "Descent into Darkness " by Edward Raymer. It covers a lot of the Pearl Harbour aftermath from the point of view of the author, a US Navy salvage diver. I am very surprised he came through it without PTSD

I read it many years ago and I seem to recall that he claimed that while on a dive on the Arizona he found a dud Japanese armor piercing bomb that was converted from a 14-inch naval shell and that, curiously, the round was stamped "US" on it in which he speculated that it was probably sold to Japan as scrap before the war.

 

[Monsoon]

"Descent into Darkness" is a nightmare. I remember a passage where they were instructed to try to recover bodies from the Arizona. After 12 hours, they had 12 bodies. They were literally falling apart when they were pulling them out.