Description

The construction of BB-63 began in January 1941 in the New York Navy Yard as the third ship of Iowa class battleships. Entering service in June 1944, Missouri became the temporary headquarter of the 58th high-speed task force. When she participated in the battles of lwo Jima and Okinawa she was slightly damaged by kamikaze attacks. After the surrender of Japan she entered Tokyo Bay as the flagship of the 3rd fleet. It is well known that the instrument of surrender was signed on her deck. After the war the Iowa-class ships returned home and served as training ships for new officers. When the Korean War began in 1950, all of those ships re-entered service to bombard Wonsan, supporting the landing operation. During the Vietnam War the sole Iowa class ship to serve was the USS New Jersey. In 1980 the Reagan administration ordered the revival of Iowa class battleships to build up the US naval force and Missouri was modernized and re-entered service in July 1986 with Harpoon, Tomahawk, and cutting-edge electric devices. In January 1995, four years after participating in the Gulf War with Wisconsin, she and other three were finally deleted from the Navy list, ending careers of more than fifty years.