1944 USS MISSOURI. Missouri, or Mighty Mo, gained immortality when the Japanese surrender was signed aboard her in Tokyo Bay in August 1945. She is now a museum at Pearl Harbour.
A TWO-OCEAN NAVY
In 1940, authority was given by Congress to the US Navy to build six 45,000t battleships to match what everyone thought were similar Japanese ships. Although the Japanese ships were much bigger 64,000t and armed with 18in (457mm) guns the US Navy was content with smaller, faster ships armed with 16in (406mm) guns. Speed was essential to keep pace with the new fast aircraft carriers building, and as things turned out the gamble paid off. The four ships built Iowa, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Missouri (two more were never completed) did not encounter their intended opponents.
SYMBOL OF NAVAL MIGHT
The USS Missouri (BB63) was launched in January 1944 and commissioned only six months later. Her first action was to provide gunfire support for the assault on Iwo Jima. Retained in commission after the war, she ran aground in Chesapeake Bay in 1950, but returned to active service during the Korean War. With her three sisters, Iowa (BB61), New Jersey (BB62) and Wisconsin (BB64), she underwent modernisation to serve as the core of a Surface Action Group. The main and secondary guns were retained but she was armed with 32 Tomahawk cruise missiles and eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles. With the end of the Cold War, however, this concept died and she was mothballed. With Iowa, she was recommissioned for the Gulf War in 1990, and bombarded Iraqi defences around Kuwait City. She has recently been towed to Hawaii, where she is to be a memorial.
TECHNICAL DATA
Type: Battleship
Machinery: 4-shaft GE turbines giving 130,000shp
Dimensions: Length, 270.4m (887.2511); beam, 32.9m (1 08.2ft)
Displacement: 57 (full load)
Draught: 11m (36ft)
