USS UTAH EXHIBIT AT UTAH STATE CAPITOL
MARCH 9 – DECEMBER 2009
THE USS EXHIBIT OPENED 3/09/2009. IT OCCUPIES MOST OF THE 4TH FLOOR EXHIBITION AREA.
The Exhibit is open free of charge 5 days per week to the general public. Members of the USS UTAH ASSOCIATION are especially welcome. Our Association was represented by one USS Utah survivor from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other military bases on the Island of Oahu, December 7, 1941.
We did not come away with many display photos from this Magnificent exhibit, although some of our hosts were kind enough to forward a few photos. Much of our time was taken up by photo ops and interviews.
This Capitol has to be one of the most beautiful State Capitols in this Country. We thank the Utah Legislature for the JOINT RESOLUTION HONORING THE BATTLESHIP USS UTAH ON IT'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY. The resolution in it's entirety is presented below:
H.J.R. 28 Enrolled
1
JOINT RESOLUTION HONORING THE
2BATTLESHIP USS UTAH ON ITS 100TH
3ANNIVERSARY
42009 GENERAL SESSION
5STATE OF UTAH
6Chief Sponsor: Julie Fisher
7Senate Sponsor: Peter C. Knudson
8
9 LONG TITLE
10 General Description:
11 This joint resolution of the Legislature honors the battleship USS Utah on its 100th
12 Anniversary and those who served on her.
13 Highlighted Provisions:
14 This resolution:
15 . honors the battleship USS Utah on the 100th anniversary of her construction and
16 service and all the sailors and marines who served on her.
17 Special Clauses:
18 None
19
20 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
21 WHEREAS, the USS Utah was first announced to the citizens of the state in an address
22 given at the Salt Lake Tabernacle by President Theodore Roosevelt on May 29, 1903;
23 WHEREAS, the United States Congress appropriated funds to construct the battleship
24 USS Utah in 1908;
25 WHEREAS, the contract to construct the USS Utah, also known as BB 31, was
26 awarded by the navy to the New York Ship Building Company in November 1908, and
27 construction began March 9, 1909;
28 WHEREAS, the USS Utah was launched on December 23, 1909;
29 WHEREAS, in attendance at that event was Utah Governor William Spry, his daughter
30
Mary Alice Spry, who christened the ship,
and several hundred distinguished Utah citizens
31
who took
special trains from Salt Lake City to New York for the ceremony;
32
WHEREAS, in 1910, Governor Spry convened and commissioned a Silver Service
33
Commission, chaired by Daniel C. Jackling of Utah Copper fame, to design and
provide the
34
ship on
its commissioning with a fitting sterling silver service to be used by its
officers and
35
guests;
36
WHEREAS, Governor Spry and the Commission enlisted the support of Utah's
school
37
children
to assist in the purchase of the service;
38
WHEREAS, each child was asked to donate up to but not more than ten cents,
and
39
approximately 22,000 students donated to the cause;
40
WHEREAS, the students contributed over $2,277 toward the service, and the
1911
41
Legislature appropriated the remaining funds to cover the $10,000 cost;
42
WHEREAS, each student donor was given a small, engraved card of appreciation
and
43
the
student's name was placed in a book of participants, which is now held in the
state
44
archives;
45
WHEREAS, the USS Utah was commissioned on August 31, 1911, as the newest
46
member of
the U.S. fleet;
47
WHEREAS, at the time, the USS Utah was the largest and most powerful ship in
the
48
world;
49
WHEREAS, Governor Spry, Senators Reed Smoot and George Sutherland, and many
50
other
dignitaries including George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy, attended the Silver
Service
51
presentation on November 6, 1911;
52
WHEREAS, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed a special reworded rendition
of
53
the state
song, Utah We Love Thee, honoring the new ship;
54
WHEREAS, the USS Utah and the silver service, along with a newly designed
state
55
flag, were
presented to William S. Benson, the ship's first captain;
56
WHEREAS, from that ceremony the state provided the ship with a state flag
and a
57
United
States flag to fly on its fantail;
58
WHEREAS, since Utah did not have an
official flag, the Governor asked the Adjutant
59
General to
contact the Horstmann Company of Philadelphia to design a flag based on the
state
60
seal;
61
WHEREAS, the design was approved, the flag was made, and in 1911 and 1913
the
62
Legislature passed legislation to designate the state flag and establish its
design;
63
WHEREAS, the USS Utah began it trials and then went to sea as the fleet's
new
64
flagship;
65
WHEREAS, in 1914 three members of the crew of the USS Utah were awarded the
66
Congressional Medal of Honor for their efforts that were above and beyond the
call of duty
67
while the
ship was assigned duty in Mexico;
68
WHEREAS, at the beginning of World War I, the USS Utah was assigned to
Bantry
69
Bay,
Ireland to protect the North Sea and to help keep German warships bottled up in
their
70
harbors;
71
WHEREAS, at the end of World War I, the USS Utah escorted the USS Washington
as
72
it carried
President Woodrow Wilson to England and France to participate in the signing of
the
73
peace
treaty;
74
WHEREAS, on returning to the United States, the USS Utah provided coastal
75
protection
and fulfilled the duty of showing the flag throughout the world;
76
WHEREAS, in 1928, the USS Utah was selected to take President-elect and Mrs.
77
Hoover on
an extended tour of South America;
78
WHEREAS, at the end of the voyage, President Hoover invited the ship's crew
to the
79
White
House, where he and Mrs. Hoover entertained the crew for the afternoon;
80
WHEREAS, in July 1931, after 20 years of service, the USS Utah was
designated as
81
AG 16, an
auxiliary ship of the navy, after a world armament conference;
82
WHEREAS, the USS Utah was turned into a training and target ship for new
bombers
83
of the
Navy and Army Air Corp and costal guns; and, as the first robot-controlled ship,
she
84
had the
most innovative technology of the time put aboard her;
85
WHEREAS, in March 1941, she was reassigned from California to Pearl Harbor,
86
Hawaii, her new home port;
87
WHEREAS, as the first ship attacked by the Japanese on the morning of
Sunday,
88
December
7th, 1941, the USS Utah sustained hits from several bombs and two torpedoes
89
before
rolling over on her side and sinking within 12 minutes;
90
WHEREAS, 58 men paid the ultimate price on the USS Utah that day;
91
WHEREAS, 461 men on the USS Utah survived the surprise attack and sinking;
92
WHEREAS, the USS Utah is still at her berth under water just like her sister
ship the
93
USS
Arizona;
94
WHEREAS, in 1969, a fitting memorial was established by an act of Congress
95
sponsored
by Senator Frank Moss;
96
WHEREAS, all of the members of the crew that day did what they could to save
their
97
ship,
their crew mates, and themselves, and then fought the enemy;
98
WHEREAS, one of the sailors, Chief Peter Tomich, remained at his post trying
to keep
99
the ship
alive and functioning after getting his men out;
100
WHEREAS, for his actions, Tomich received the Congressional Medal of Honor,
and
101
as Tomich
had no living relatives, the state of Utah, by statute, formally adopted him;
102
WHEREAS, in 1946, the Congressional Medal of Honor was presented to Governor
103
Herbert
Maw, who acted as a representative of the people of the state as Tomich's family
at a
104
ceremony
held in the Utah Capitol's Rotunda;
105
WHEREAS, the Capitol Preservation Board has decided to honor the USS Utah
and its
106
crew on
its 100th anniversary by producing an exhibit in the Capitol Building including
107
artifacts,
photos, and stories of the USS Utah and its crew; and
108
WHEREAS,
the exhibit is being sponsored by Ancestry.com, a part of the Generations
109
Network of
Provo, Utah, in cooperation with the USS Utah Association, William Hughes,
110
Judith
McConkie, Curator of the Utah State Capitol, the Utah State Archives, the Utah
State
111
Historical
Society, the Fort Douglas Military Museum, Ephraim Dickson III, Curator, and
112
private
citizens and collectors, Carl Timmerman and Ronald Fox:
113
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah
114
honors the USS Utah, a valiant ship, and all who served on her and the many who gave their
115 last measure of devotion to their country aboard her on December 7, 1941.
116 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to each surviving
117 member of the USS Utah's crew, the USS Utah Association, the Department of the Navy, the
118 National Park Service, the Pearl Harbor Memorial, the Utah State Historical Society, the Utah
119 Department of Veteran's Affairs, the Capitol Preservation Board, Ancestry.com, Utah State
120 Archives, Carl Timmerman, Ronald Fox, the Adjutant General of the Utah National Guard,
121 and the Fort Douglas Military Museum.A special THANK YOU to State Rep.the Hon. Julie Fisher, Chief Sponsor and Senate Sponsor the Hon. Peter C. Knudson. For their role in the passage of this resolution.
A special THANK YOU to some of the good people of Utah who made it happen. They are listed above in lines 108-121.
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