USS Missouri

Also known as BB-63, Missouri, Mighty Mo, Big Mo

1944 Iowa-class battleship

Key facts

Namesake: State of Missouri
Ordered: 12 June 1940
Builder: Brooklyn Navy Yard
Laid down: 6 January 1941
Launched: 29 January 1944
Sponsored by: Margaret Truman
Commissioned: 11 June 1944
Decommissioned: 26 February 1955
Identification: Callsign : NCBL Hull number : BB-63
Recommissioned: 10 May 1986
Stricken: 12 January 1995
Motto: Strength for Freedom
Nickname s: "Mighty Mo", "Muddy Mo"
Status: Museum ship in Pearl Harbor
Class type: Iowa -class battleship
Displacement: 57,540 long tons (58,460 t ) ( full load )
Length: 887 ft 3 in (270.4 m) ( o/a )
Beam: 108 ft 2 in (33 m)

via Wikipedia infobox

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

USS Missouri (BB-63) is an Iowa-class battleship built for the United States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is now a museum ship. Completed in 1944, she is the last battleship commissioned by the United States. The ship was assigned to the Pacific Theater during World War II, where she participated in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands. Her quarterdeck was the site where the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed, officially ending World War II.

After World War II, Missouri served in various diplomatic, show of force and training missions. In 1950, the ship ran aground during high tide in Chesapeake Bay and after great effort was re-floated several weeks later. She later fought in the Korean War during two tours between 1950 and 1953. Missouri was the first American battleship to arrive in Korean waters and served as the flagship for several admirals. The battleship took part in numerous shore bombardment operations and also served in a screening role for aircraft carriers. Missouri was decommissioned in 1955 and transferred to the reserve fleet (also known as the "Mothball Fleet").

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “USS Missouri” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.