Allied Warships

USS Missouri (BB 63)

Battleship of the Iowa class


USS Missouri during the Second World War.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeBattleship
ClassIowa 
PennantBB 63 
Built byNew York Navy Yard (New York, New York, U.S.A.) 
Ordered12 Jun 1940 
Laid down6 Jan 1941 
Launched29 Jan 1944 
Commissioned11 Jun 1944 
End service31 Mar 1992 
History

USS Missouri is the youngest of the four magnificent Iowa class battleships built by the United States. These battleships were extensively upgraded several times during their half century of naval service. During World War II, Missouri participated in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, screened task force 58 during air strikes against Japan and served as Admiral William F. Halsey's flagship. The Japanese surrender was signed aboard 2 September 1945.

During the Korean War, she supported the Inchon landings, provided support for the evacuation of Hungnam and conducted extensive shore bombardment of North Korea.

At 1:40 am on 16 January, 1991, while underway in the Persian Gulf, USS Missouri launched the first of 28 tomahawk missiles toward Baghdad. During 44 days of Desert Storm, she fired 759 sixteen inch projectiles while bombarding Iraqi forces. USS Missouri is best known as the site where General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, on 2 September 1945, officially accepted the surrender of Japan, ending World War II. USS Missouri was decommissioned for the second time on 31 March 1992. USS Missouri arrived in Hawaii on 22 June 1998, and opened to the public on 29 January 1999.

 

Commands listed for USS Missouri (BB 63)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1T/R.Adm. William Mccombe Callaghan, USN11 Jun 194414 May 1945
2T/R.Adm. Stuart Shadrick Murray, USN14 May 19456 Nov 1945
3T/Capt. Roscoe Henry Hillenkoetter, USN6 Nov 194531 May 1946

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Notable events involving Missouri include:


2 Sep 1945
The Japanese surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri, ending World War II. (1)

Media links


US fast battleships 1938-91

Lawrence Burr


US battleships 1941-1963

Wayne Scarpaci


amazon.co.uk
(£ 23.07)

Sources

  1. Personal communication

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