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USS Missouri (BB-63) is a United States Navy battleship, notable as both the last battleship to be built by the United States, and as the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. She is presently a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. She was one of the Iowa-class "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Missouri was ordered on June 12, 1940 and the keel was laid at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York on January 6, 1941. She was launched on January 29, 1944 and commissioned on June 11 as BB-63. The ship was the fourth and last of the Iowa class as well as the final battleship to be commissioned by the Navy. At her launching in 1944 the ship was christened by her ship's sponsor: Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of then-Missouri Senator Harry S Truman. The "Mighty Mo" was dispatched to Pearl Harbor from Norfolk, Virginia in November, 1944 under the command of William M. Callaghan arriving in Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve 1944. She first saw combat operations in January, 1945 as part of the protective force for the aircraft carrier Lexington. The battleship was then involved in operations around Iwo Jima and the Ryukyu Islands from mid-February before being assigned to the Yorktown fast carrier group in March, operating in the Inland Sea. In late March the battleship was assigned to the operations around Okinawa. On April 11 Missouri was struck by a Zero kamikaze aircraft but suffered little damage. On May 5 Missouri was dispatched to Guam via Ulithi to pick up Admiral William Halsey, Jr. before returning to Okinawa by May 27. The fleet finally retired from Okinawa in June, arriving at Leyte on June 13. On July 13 Missouri was part of the fleet that attacked Honshu and Hokkaido, shells from Missouri aiding in the destruction of the Nihon works at Muroran and on targets around Hitachi. The battleship was involved in strikes on northern Honshu when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Missouri entered Tokyo Bay on August 29.  The final surrender of Japan was accepted aboard Missouri on the morning of September 2, 1945 by General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz from a delegation led by Mamoru Shigemitsu. Missouri returned to Pearl Harbor on September 20. In September of 1947 Missouri went to Rio De Janeiro Brazil to pick up President Harry S Truman, his wife Bess Truman and daughter Mary Margaret who had been participating in the Rio Conference. The Trumans spent 12 days sailing aboard Missouri back to Norfolk, VA during which time the President and his family insisted upon taking most of their meals in the enlisted crew mess with the enlisted crew. To this day the starboard enlisted chow line is named "The Truman Line" in their honor. During training on January 17, 1950 the vessel ran aground on the Thimble Shoals and was not refloated until February 1. Missouri was deployed during the Korean War in September, 1950 and conducted shore bombardment around Samchok on September 15 before becoming part of the escort for Valley Forge and conducting further bombardments in October (Chonjin and Tanchon) and December (Hungnam). Missouri conducted further operations in the area until March, 1951 when she returned to Norfolk and was assigned to the Atlantic fleet. She returned to Korea in October, 1952 to conduct a series of shore bombardment operations as flagship of the 7th Fleet. Her operations around Korea continued until March 25 1953 with the bombardment near Kojo. She returned to the Atlantic fleet in mid May. She was decommissioned and moved to the Bremerton group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet on February 26 1955 following a final series of visits to Portugal, Spain and Guantanamo Bay. As part of President Ronald Reagan's "600-ship Navy" plan, the Missouri was reactivated and modernized in May 1985 and recommissioned on May 10 1986. The ship was sent on an around-the-world shakedown cruise, becoming the first battleship to circumnavigate the globe since Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" of 1907–1909. In her second active-duty stint, Missouri spent much time in and around the Persian Gulf. In 1987, the ship was equipped with additional smaller caliber weapons to deal with speedboat threats, and sent to take part in Operation Earnest Will, the escorting of reflagged tankers from Kuwait. Missouri was deployed during the Gulf War from January 1991 where she fired 759 rounds of main battery ammunition at Khafji, Kuwait City and Faylakah Island as well as conducting 28 Tomahawk missile attacks. During the Gulf War the Iraqis fired two Silkworm missiles at the ship, one of which fell harmlessly into the sea, the other of which passed quite close to Missouri before being shot down by the HMS Gloucester (D96).  Missouri was decommissioned for the last time on March 31, 1992 and returned to Bremerton, Washington. She was removed from the Naval Register on January 12, 1995. The vessel was donated to the Missouri Memorial Association in 1996 and subsequently transferred to Hawaii in 1998, where she officially joined the Battleship Row memorial in Pearl Harbor on January 29 1999. She rests a mere 1,000 yards (900 m) behind Arizona, solemly marking America's entry into and exit from the Second World War. Missouri received a total of eight battle stars, three for World War II and five for Korea. See USS Missouri for other ships of this name. Commanding Officers of the USS MissouriUSS Missouri has seen 23 tours of duty with 20 different men serving as commanding officer.
External links
de:USS Missouri (BB-63) ms:USS Missouri (BB-63) ja:ミズーリ (戦艦)
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