Show 8 8 UTAH the following article was submitted to the news by tho the U S navy recruiting cr station south malt main street salt lako lake city utah under the terms of the recent london naval treaty three ot the first B of the united states navy have been retired from active cpr service rice these battleships the utah florida and wyoming were first seen together in the atlantic fleet in 1912 and tha service of each fed ti ur cr a perti of more than eighteen years in the first battle lini the terms of the london treaty re quiro that the florida bo be rendered unfit tor for warlike service within twelve months from the coming into force of tho the treaty and be scrapped within twenty four months tho the provisions of both the london and washington treaties allow one vessel only to by bt devoted to target use exclusively by each of the signatory naval powers and for this use tho the utah has been designated the wyoming under the same provisions will bo be retained in service under certain restrictions and with a reduced complement will act as flagship of tho the newly organized training squadron the training ship retained rata ined under tho the restrictions pt of the treaty must bo be so altered as to be unfit for service as an effective unit of the fleet the last apt service of the utah and florida ended with the completion of the mens training cruise ot of 1930 and after dis embarking the mid phippen men the proceeded to a point oft off th virginia capes where the wyoming joined them the three ships fired a farewell target practice their last salvos sounding their own death knells as units of the battle line and at the same time saluting each other in farewell these ships started their services in the united states S navy just after the present dreadnought type of battle ship has been accepted as the standard by the various naval powers although each ship showed great improvements prove ments over the original dread noughts laid down by the different inavan naval designers prior to 1906 1 all large battleships in the worlds navies had in their bialkin armaments at least two different sizes of guns in the above year however there appeared a ship that avas vas destined to be tho model lu in principal at least for practically all future battleships the utah designated as the ship to be retained its as a target ship under the terms of the london treaty was in cuban waters operating with the atlantic fleet when the united states entered the world war returning to the chesapeake bay area alle ahe remained with the fleet until august 30 1918 when she sailed balled tor for european waters with admiral H T mayo commander in chief of the atlantic fleet lind and members of his staff on oil board who were en route to europe tor for important conferences and inspections eleven days were required for the trip across during which huge seas and heavy gales were encountered whaleboats Whale boats were carried away motor and steam launches crushed in thel their r skids waves swept the decks and water found its way into the engine rooms but through it all the engines were kept turning over for 15 knots and upon entering the submarine zone the speed was increased to 20 kilos the alio utah finally dropped anchor in the fortified harbor of ban banary bantry bay ireland on september 11 1918 her mission was to guard against the possible escape of german light cruisers from the north sea and in cape of their escape to protect the troop and material planes from their raids her position in bantry banary bay da y afforded a short cruise tw tm the most used transport planes and to the I 1 european terminals terminal or of our convoys the utah steamed a total of sea miles during the time that the united states was a contestant in the world war her total cruising since being commissioned amounts to ap proximately miles and al though she was overhauled in 1 her mileage would to some of the automobile minded Iri ded warrant turn i ing her in tho the big U has during j her commission won at one no time or another every competitive trophy in the fleet including the engineering trophy for 1929 30 her last year of competition when built the utah was given the utmost in battleship construction her main battery consisting 4 of ten guns mounted in five centerline turrets her engineering plant was the first to boast a successful large turbine installation combination with water tube coal and oil burning boilers and during her lie first compete cm poti tive year she engineering trophy the utah at various times was the flagship of the commander in chief atlantic fleet commander battleship force and division five and commander naval forces europe in december president elect hoover wi his party returned to the united states on board the utah upon tho the completion of his south american tour after conclusion of 0 hostilities in I 1 the world war the utah florida and wyoming rejoined the atlantic fleet and upon the reorganization of the fleet in 1919 all were assigned to the scouting fleet all three of these vessels were re rei i bently modernized when the time honored cage masts were replaced by military tripod masts blisters riveted on their sides side soll oil burning boilers installed stalled dand and gun elevations increased the cost of modernizing these three vessels wis was over each the passing of oc these three ships from the active list of the navy will bring back memories to many service and former service men or mom memories of the newly commissioned ship the pride of 0 the navy of foreign cruises of war time service of trophies won by work and play ot of tho the new leases on life tor for the ships when modernized odthe of the never to bo be forgotten shipmates of former years and to the tha last crows crews the memory of the farewell target practice which hach brought to a close the careers of americas first super dreadnoughts |