The anti-aircraft and target training ship USS Utah, berthed on the west side of Ford Island, was hit by two torpedoes and capsized, killing 64 of its crew.
The Utah was the primary U.S. warship involved in the American landings at Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1914 and also participated in World War I, according to the National Park Service.
Many of the gunners who shot down Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941, were trained aboard the former battleship.
According to Capt. Homer N. Wallin, tasked with the fleet salvage, Utah was to be salvaged after Oklahoma. “But there was considerable doubt whether the time, energy, material and cost warranted the operation,” Wallin wrote later.
The condition of the overturned Utah was similar to that of the Oklahoma. Most of the fuel oil had been pumped out. A series of 17 electric winches and cables that pulled from the shore were used in early 1944 to try to right the old dreadnought.
But the vessel slid partially toward Ford Island instead of turning fully upright, and by March 1944 work stopped, according to the National Park Service.
The commander of the 14th Naval District sought again to remove the ship in 1956, citing insufficient space for Essex-class aircraft carriers. The $4 million salvage cost was viewed as too great, however.
The Utah, still partially visible as a rusty hulk, remains on its side at a 38-degree angle.
Of the 64 crew lost, four to six were recovered, and the remainder are entombed aboard the Utah, according to the Navy and Park Service.
A 1.1-inch quad anti-aircraft machine gun mounted below the armored bridge remains onboard, its barrels twisted in the trauma suffered by the ship. Two stern turrets still have 5-inch guns.
In 1950 memorial plaques were placed on the shoreline and on the ship, the Park Service said. A larger memorial was dedicated in 1972 to the ship and crew.