The forgotten ship

One hundred years ago she was the belle of Utah's ball, the largest and most powerful battleship in the world, launched in New York on Dec. 23, 1909 with these words: "I christen thee Utah! Godspeed!"

Thirty-two years later on Dec. 7, two torpedoes struck the USS Utah at Pearl Harbor and within minutes she rolled over on her side, taking some of her crew to rest with her forever.

As the decades passed, a solemn tribute to the horrific nature of the attack and the sacrifices of that infamous day was erected over the tomb of the USS Arizona, which would become the Pearl Harbor National Monument.

But on the opposite side of Ford Island rests the rusted hull of the USS Utah, which over the years has been termed "The Forgotten Ship."

Four men who have lived a total of 349 years on Earth ventured to the state of Utah earlier this year to remember what many have forgotten.

In the halls of the state Capitol, where an exhibit celebrates the life and times of the USS Utah, they talked of how good it was to see each other again, and how few they have become.

The four are among 30 or so men left from the 461 survivors of the assault on the 21,825-ton ship.

They felt her shudder from the torpedoes and watched tables, chairs, salt shakers and sugar bowls slide across the floor when she began to list.

"And it was one hell of a day, a terrible day," said Cecil Calavan, now 85.

Calavan was a 17-year-old farm boy in 1941 practically living on his own because of a family split. He talked his father into letting him sign up for the Navy, which had started recruiting 17-year-olds a year earlier.

He had grand visions of serving aboard a glorious battleship.

"When I first saw the Utah, I almost cried," he said. "She'd been cut back, she didn't look like a battleship anymore."

By the time Calavan came along, those glory days as a battleship were behind the USS Utah, which had seen action off the coast of Mexico in 1914 and was assigned to Bantry Bay, Ireland, to protect British interests at the beginning of World War I.

When Calavan came along, it had been a few years since the ship was selected to take President-elect Herbert Hoover and his wife on an extended tour of South America.