| Show U S S UTAH IS TO BE RETIRED FROM SERVICE by captain W R sexton commanding U S S utah As this article appears the oldest battleship remaining on the navys active ilist hist since the limitation treaty the united states ship p bah la Is being placed temporarily yut out ot of a active set service she la is not leaving the navy there are many useful years ah ahead ead of her naval science grews grows as fast as the supporting sciences 0 of ballistics chemistry metallurgy and engineering however and the utah must be re modeled to meet her now new duties du ales as successfully a as 4 she has met her old ones bones when she rejoins the fleet in 1928 her outlines now farril itar all over the world will rill have been changed beyond recognition blisters tort protection will bulge at her waterline one runnel funnel and one mast will have disappeared to make room for a clank clanking Dg catapult tor for airplanes inside and ou she will be another ship but inside and out she will still ibe the utah eternally the same ship her stout old frame her crouching turrets and most I 1 important 0 of all her spirit pi rit caan can never be changed the spirit a ship acquires on her shaking down cruise lasts through her lifetime call it point ot of view reputation what you will it seems almost to amount to a soul of her own to hurry over the details battleship ip 31 christened chr i utah as she left the launching ways dates f rom 1909 she is feet long 85 feet broad and draws around 30 feet of 0 water along the center line are tive five squat turrets each housing two twelve inch guns with barrels forty tive five feet in length eighteen smaller guns pierce her sides or surmount her cranes her boilers deliver about horsepower to her hek turbine engines and these in turn ran can drive her through the water at over 21 knots 2104 was her official trial speed nearly 24 land miles an h hour with normal load her tonnage Is 79 officers 1130 enlisted men and 64 marines live at and work k on her roomy decks andin and in h her labyrinth of 0 compartments her elect electric ric plant would run the lighting and trolley system of a city and her store rooms would stock that cites shops with everything but wear garden tools and automobiles her kitchens turn out nearly hearty meals a day her bakery a thousand pounds ot of excellent two small but busy gen general e r a I 1 stores d do a soap a a tol tobacco and notion busl business s with it 11 a normal stock turnover of a month her clothing store has an average trade of 0 in the same period of time her weekly paper print printed d on board has a circulation ot of 1500 in tto the record of 0 naval competitions 1 one cannot go far without encounter ing ill g the name in 1912 13 she wore the coveted rede for excellence in engineering even itogay in competition with younger bigger more modern sisters she stands well in gunnery she aias has tour four times engraved liar her name on the famous blattenburg cup for racing cutters and still holds 1 the atlantic challenge trophy the I 1 free tor for all sailing trophy and the sailing regatta cup and a square tablet affixed to a forecastle I 1 i bulkhead records that the utah ed in the world war april 6 1917 1 1 to november V I 1 1918 battleship european waters terse and bare bar e language this but behind the bold phrase roll the togs fogs ot of scapa flow and ithe north sea the sleepless watch that kept the sea lands open during the years of bitter trial |
