 Missouri at sea in her 1980s configuration | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| 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 |
|
| Recommissioned | 10 May 1986 |
| Decommissioned | 31 March 1992 |
| Stricken | 12 January 1995 |
| Motto | "Strength for Freedom"[1] |
| Nickname(s) | "Mighty Mo"[1] |
| Status | Museum ship inPearl Harbor |
| Badge |  |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class & type | Iowa-classbattleship |
| Displacement | 57,540long tons (58,460 t) (full load) |
| Length | 887 ft 3 in (270.4 m) (o/a) |
| Beam | 108 ft 2 in (33 m) |
| Draft | 37 ft 9 in (11.5 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 32.5knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
| Range | 15,000 nmi (28,000 km; 17,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 117 officers, 1,804enlisted men (designed) |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| General characteristics (1986) | |
| Complement | 1,515 officers and enlisted men |
| Sensors & processing systems | |
| Electronic warfare & decoys | |
| Armament |
|
USSMissouri (BB-63) | |
  | |
| Location | Pearl Harbor,Hawaii |
| Coordinates | 21°21′44″N157°57′12″W / 21.36222°N 157.95333°W /21.36222; -157.95333 |
| Built | 1944 |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000877 |
| Added to NRHP | 14 May 1971 |
USSMissouri (BB-63) is anIowa-classbattleship built for theUnited States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is amuseum ship. Completed in 1944, she is the last battleshipcommissioned by the United States. The ship was assigned to thePacific Theater duringWorld War II, where she participated in the Battles ofIwo Jima andOkinawa and shelled theJapanese home islands. Herquarterdeck was the site where theJapanese Instrument of Surrender was signed, officiallyending World War II.
After World War II,Missouri served in various diplomatic,show of force and training missions. In 1950, the shipran aground duringhigh tide inChesapeake Bay and after great effort was re-floated several weeks later. She later fought in theKorean War during two tours between 1950 and 1953.Missouri was the first American battleship to arrive in Korean waters and served as theflagship for severaladmirals. The battleship took part in numerous shore bombardment operations and also served in ascreening role foraircraft carriers.Missouri wasdecommissioned in 1955 and transferred to thereserve fleet (also known as the "Mothball Fleet").
Missouri wasreactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the600-ship Navy plan.Cruise missile andanti-ship missile launchers were added along with updated electronics. The ship served in thePersian Gulf escortingoil tankers during threats from Iran, often while keeping herfire-control systems trained on land-based Iranian missile launchers. She served inOperation Desert Storm in 1991 including providing fire support.
Missouri was again decommissioned in 1992, but remained on theNaval Vessel Register until her name was struck in 1995. In 1998, she was donated to the USSMissouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship atPearl Harbor, Hawaii.
TheIowa class offast battleships was designed in the late 1930s in response to theUS Navy's expectations for a future war with theEmpire of Japan. The last battleships to be built by the United States, they were also the US Navy's largest and fastest vessels of the type.[2] American officers preferred comparatively slow but heavily armed and armored battleships, but Navy planners determined that such a fleet would have difficulty in bringing the faster Japanese fleet to battle, particularly theKongō-classbattlecruisers and theaircraft carriers of the1st Air Fleet. Design studies prepared during the development of the earlierNorth Carolina andSouth Dakota classes demonstrated the difficulty in resolving the desires of fleet officers with those of the planning staff within thedisplacement limits imposed by theWashington Naval Treaty system, which had governedcapital ship construction since 1923. An escalator clause in theSecond London Naval Treaty of 1936 allowed an increase from 35,000long tons (36,000 t) to 45,000 long tons (46,000 t) in the event that any member nation refused to sign the treaty, which Japan refused to do.[3]
Missouri is 887 feet 3 inches (270.4 m)long overall and is 860 feet (262.1 m) long at thewaterline. The ship has abeam of 108 ft 2 in (33 m) and adraft of 37 ft 9 in (11.5 m) at herfull combat load of 57,540 long tons (58,460 t).[4] TheIowa-class ships are powered by fourGeneral Electric gearedsteam turbines, each driving onescrew propeller using steam provided by eight oil-firedBabcock & Wilcox boilers. Rated at 212,000shaft horsepower (158,000 kW), the turbines were designed to give a top speed of 32.5knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph), but were built to handle a 20 percent overload. None of theIowas ever ranspeed trials in deep water, but theBureau of Ships estimated that they could reach a speed of about 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) from 225,000 shp (168,000 kW) at a light displacement of 51,209 long tons (52,031 t). The ships had a designed cruising range of 15,000nautical miles (28,000 km; 17,000 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph), although theNew Jersey's fuel consumption figures during her sea trials suggest that her range was at least 20,150 nmi (37,320 km; 23,190 mi) at that cruising speed. Their designed crew numbered 117 officers and 1,804 enlisted men which had greatly increased by the end of the war in 1945.[5]Missouri's crew at that time numbered 189 officers and 2,978 sailors.[6]
Themain battery of theIowa-class ships consisted of nine16 in (406 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 guns[a] in three triple-gun turrets on thecenterline, two of which were placed in asuperfiring pair forward of thesuperstructure, with the third aft. Going frombow tostern, the turrets were designated I, II, and III. Theirsecondary battery consisted of twenty5 in (127 mm)/38 caliberdual-purpose guns mounted in twin-gun turrets clusteredamidships, five turrets on eachbroadside. Unlike theirsister shipsIowa andNew Jersey that were the first pair of ships built,Missouri andWisconsin were completed with ananti-aircraft suite of twenty quadruple mounts for40 mm (1.6 in) BoforsAA guns, nine mounts on each broadside and one each on the roofs of Turrets II and III. Forty-nine20-millimeter (0.8 in) Oerlikon light AAauto-cannon in single mounts were distributed almost the length of the ships.[7]
The primary means of controlling the main armament are two Mark 38directors for theMark 38 fire-control system mounted at the tops of the fore and aft fire-control towers in the superstructure. These directors were equipped with 25-foot-6-inch-long (7.8 m)rangefinders, although their primary sensor was theMark 8fire-control radar mounted on their roofs. A secondary Mark 40 fire-control director was installed inside the armoredconning tower at the front of the superstructure that used theMark 27 fire-control radar positioned on the top of the conning tower. Each turret is fitted with a rangefinder 46 feet (14 m) long and can act as a director for the other turrets. Four Mark 37 gunnery directors, two on the centerline at the ends of the superstructure and one on each broadside, control the five-inch guns. Each director was equipped with a 15-foot (4.6 m) rangefinder and a pair of radars on its roof. These were aMark 12 fire-control system and aMark 22height-finder radar. Each 40 mm mount was remotely controlled by a Mark 51 director that incorporated a Mark 14 lead-computinggyro gunsight while the sailors that used the 20 mm gun used a Mark 14 sight to track their targets.[8]
ASK-2early-warning radar was fitted on the ship'sforemast; above it was aSGsurface-search radar. The other SG radar was mounted at the top of the mainmast positioned on the rearfunnel.[9]
TheIowas were built with two rotatingaircraft catapults on their stern forfloatplanes and a largecrane was fitted to recover them. Initially a trio ofVought OS2U Kingfishers were carried, but these were replaced byCurtiss SC Seahawks in December 1944.[10][11][12]
The internal waterlinearmor belt of theIowa-class ships is 12.1 in (307 mm) thick and has a height of 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m). Below it is astrake of Class Bhomogeneous armor plate that tapers in thickness from 12.1 inches at the top to 1.62 in (41 mm) at the bottom and is 28 ft (8.5 m) high. The two strakes of armor are inclined outwards at the top 19 degrees to improve the armor's resistance to horizontal fire. In general the vertical armor plates are made from Class Acemented armor and the horizontal armor from Class B orspecial treatment steel (STS). The belt armor extends to the two transversebulkheads fore and aft of the main-gunbarbettes, forming thearmored citadel. Part of the lower armor belt extends aft from the rear bulkhead to protect the ships' steering gear. Its maximum thickness ranges from 13 to 13.5 in (330 to 343 mm) at the top and the plates taper to 5 inches at the bottom. Unlike theIowa andNew Jersey, the armor plates in the forward transverse bulkhead inMissouri andWisconsin have a maximum thickness of 14.5 in (368 mm) at the top that tapers to 11.7 in (297 mm). The aft bulkhead is a consistent 14.5 inches in thickness, but does not go below the lower belt extension due it meeting the armored third deck protecting the shafts and steering gears; the steering gear is closed by another 14.5-inch aft bulkhead.[13]
The main-gun turrets has Class B plates 19.5 in (495 mm) thick on their faces and 9.5 in (241 mm) of Class A plates on their sides. The armor plates protecting their barbettes range in thickness from 17.3 in (439 mm) to 14.8 in (376 mm) and 11.6 in (295 mm) with the thickest plates on the sides and the thinnest ones on the front and back. The sides of the conning tower are 17.3 in (440 mm) thick. Themain deck of theIowas consists of 1.5 in (38 mm) of STS. Below this deck, the roof of the armored citadel is formed by 6 in (152 mm) of armor in two layers. Below this is a deck of 0.625-inch (16 mm) STS plates intended to stop splinters from shells that pierced the armored deck above it. The armor deck extends aft and the roof of the steering gear compartment is 6.2 in (160 mm) thick.[14]
Theunderwater protection system of theIowa-class battleships consists of threewatertight compartments outboard of the lower armor belt and another behind it. The two outermost compartment are kept loaded with fuel oil or seawater to absorb the energy of the torpedowarhead's detonation and slow the resulting splinters so they can be stopped by the lower armor belt. Behind the belt is aholding bulkhead intended to protect the ships' inner spaces from any splinters that might penetrate and the subsequent flooding. For protection againstnaval mines, theIowas have adouble bottom that runs the full length of the ships and increases to a triple bottom except at the bow and stern.[15]
Missouri was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after theUS state of Missouri.[16] The ship was authorized by Congress in 1938[17] and ordered on 12 June 1940 with thehull number BB-63.[18] Thekeel forMissouri waslaid down at theBrooklyn Navy Yard on 6 January 1941 inslipway 1. The ship waslaunched on 29 January 1944 before a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 spectators. At the launching ceremony, the ship waschristened byMargaret Truman, theship sponsor and daughter ofHarry S. Truman, then one of the senators from the ship's namesake state; Truman himself gave a speech at the ceremony.Fitting-out work proceeded quickly, and the ship wascommissioned on 11 June;CaptainWilliam Callaghan served as her first commander.[19]
Missouri conducted her initial sea trials off New York, beginning on 10 July, and then steamed south toChesapeake Bay, where she embarked on ashakedown cruise and conducted training. During this period, she operated with the new largecruiserAlaska, which had also recently entered service, and several escortingdestroyers. The ship got underway on 11 November, bound for theWest Coast of the United States. She passed through thePanama Canal a week later and continued on toSan Francisco. There, additional fitting-out work was carried out atHunters Point Naval Shipyard to prepare the vessel for use as a fleetflagship.[20]
_underway_in_August_1944.jpg)
On 14 December,Missouri departed San Francisco and sailed forUlithi in theCaroline Islands, where she joined the rest of the fleet on 13 January 1945. She became a temporaryheadquarters ship forVice AdmiralMarc A. Mitscher.[16] She then joinedTask Force 58, whichsortied on 27 January to launch an air attack onTokyo in support of the planned operation againstIwo Jima.Missouri served as part of the anti-aircraft screen for Task Group 58.2, centered on the carriersLexington,Hancock, andSan Jacinto, during the raid on Tokyo.[21] In addition to guarding the carriers,Missouri and the other battleships acted asoilers for the escorting destroyers, since the fleet's logistics train could not accompany the strike force during raids.[22]
By 16 February, the task force had arrived off the coast of Japan to begin a series ofairstrikes. The fleet then proceeded to Iwo Jima, which was invaded by American ground forces on 19 February. That evening, while patrolling with the carriers,Missouri shot down a Japanese aircraft, probably aNakajima Ki-49 bomber. Task Force 58 departed in early March and returned to Ulithi to replenish fuel and ammunition.Missouri was transferred to theYorktown task group, TG 58.4 at that time.[23]
The ships departed again on 14 March for another round of air strikes on Japan.[24] Four days later,Missouri's anti-aircraft guns assisted in the destruction of four Japanese aircraft. American carrier aircraft struck a variety of targets around theInland Sea, which prompted a Japanese counter-attack that struck several carriers. The carrierFranklin was badly damaged andMissouri's task group was detached to cover her withdrawal. By 22 March,Franklin had left the area of operations and the group returned to the fleet to join the preparatory bombardment for the upcominginvasion of Okinawa.[16]Missouri was temporarily transferred to TF 59, along with her sistersNew Jersey andWisconsin, to bombard the southern coast ofOkinawa on 24 March,[25] part of an effort to draw Japanese attention from the actual invasion target on the western side of the island, during which she fired 180rounds.Missouri thereafter returned to TG 58.4.[26]
While operating with the carriers on 11 April,Missouri came under attack from akamikaze that struck the side of the vessel below the main deck. The impact shattered the aircraft, throwing gasoline on the deck that rapidly ignited, but it was quickly suppressed by her crew. The attack caused superficial damage and the battleship remained on station. Two crewmen were wounded on 17 April when another kamikaze clipped the stern crane and crashed in the ship'swake.[27]Missouri left Task Force 58 on 5 May to return to Ulithi; in the course of her operations off Okinawa, she claimed five aircraft shot down and another probable kill, along with partial credit for another six aircraft destroyed.[16] While en route,Missouri refueled from a fleet oiler that also brought the ship's new commander, CaptainStuart S. Murray, who relieved Captain Callaghan on 14 May.[28]
On 9 May,Missouri reached Ulithi, before continuing on toApra Harbor,Guam, where she arrived nine days later.AdmiralWilliam F. Halsey Jr., the commander ofThird Fleet, came aboard the ship that day, making her the fleet flagship of what was now re-designated as TF 38. On 21 May, the battleship got underway again, bound for Okinawa. She had reached the operational area by 27 May, when she took part in attacks on Japanese positions on the island. Together with the rest of the Third Fleet, she then steamed north to conduct a series of air strikes on Japanese airfields and other installations on the island ofKyūshū on 2 and 3 June. The fleet was struck bya major typhoon on the night of 5–6 June, which caused extensive damage to many ships of the fleet, thoughMissouri suffered only minor damage. Another round of air strikes against targets on Kyūshū took place on 8 June. The fleet then withdrew toLeyte Gulf to replenish fuel and ammunition, arriving there on 13 June.[16][29]
Third Fleet got underway again on 1 July to launch another series of attacks on the JapaneseHome Islands. During this period,Missouri operated with TG 38.4. The carrier aircraft struck targets around Tokyo on 10 July, and then further north betweenHonshū andHokkaidō from 13 to 14 July. The following day,Missouri and several other vessels were detached to form TG 38.4.2 which was tasked with bombarding industrial facilities inMuroran, Hokkaido. A second bombardment mission followed on the night of 17–18 July, by which time the British battleshipHMS King George V had joined the formation.[30] The battleships then returned toscreen the carriers during strikes against targets around the Inland Sea and then Tokyo later in the month. After a brief pause, the carriers resumed attacks on northern Japan on 9 August, the same day as theatomic bombing of Nagasaki. The following day, rumors circulated that Japan would surrender, which was formally announced on the morning of 15 August.[16]
Over the course of the following two weeks, Allied forces made preparations to begin theoccupation of Japan. On 21 August,Missouri sent a contingent of 200 officers and men toIowa, which was to debark a landing party in Tokyo to begin the process of demilitarizing Japan. Two days later, Murray was informed thatMissouri would host the surrender ceremony, with the date scheduled for 31 August. The ship's crew immediately began preparations for the event, including cleaning and painting the vessel.Missouri began the approach toTokyo Bay on 27 August, guided by theHatsuzakura. That night, the ships stopped atKamakura, where a courier brought the flag thatCommodoreMatthew Perry had flown during hisexpedition to open Japan in 1853; the flag was to be displayed during the surrender ceremony. The flotilla then entered Tokyo Bay on 29 August, andMissouri was anchored close to where Perry had anchored his own vessels some ninety-two years earlier. Poor weather delayed the ceremony until 2 September.[31]
Fleet AdmiralChester Nimitz boarded shortly after 08:00, andGeneral of the ArmyDouglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allies, came on board at 08:43. The Japanese representatives, headed byForeign MinisterMamoru Shigemitsu, arrived at 08:56, 2 September 1945. At 09:02, General MacArthur stepped before a battery ofmicrophones and opened the 23-minute surrender ceremony to the waiting world by stating,[16][32] "It is my earnest hope—indeed the hope of all mankind—that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past, a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice."[33][b]
By 09:30 the Japanese emissaries had departed. In the afternoon of 5 September, Halsey transferred his flag to the battleshipSouth Dakota, and early the next dayMissouri departed Tokyo Bay. As part of the ongoingOperation Magic Carpet she received homeward-bound passengers at Guam, then sailed unescorted for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 20 September and flew Admiral Nimitz's flag on the afternoon of 28 September for a reception.[16][35]
The next day,Missouri departed Pearl Harbor bound for theEast Coast of the United States. She reached New York City on 23 October and hoisted the flag ofAtlantic Fleet commander AdmiralJonas Ingram. Four days later, the battleship fired a21-gun salute (the first of 3 that day) as Truman—who had since become President of the United States—boarded forNavy Day ceremonies.[16][36]
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After an overhaul in theNew York Naval Shipyard[37] that included the replacement of the Mark 8 fire-control radars withMark 13 models,[38] and a training cruise toCuba,Missouri returned to New York. During the afternoon of 21 March 1946, she received the remains of theTurkish Ambassador to the United States,Munir Ertegun. She departed on 22 March forGibraltar, and on 5 April anchored in theBosphorus offIstanbul. She rendered full honors, including the firing of 19-gun salutes during the transfer of the remains of the late ambassador and again during the funeral ashore.[16][39] The arrival of the ship was one of the causes of theTurkish Straits crisis betweet Turkey and theSoviet Union.[40]
Missouri departed Istanbul on 9 April and enteredPhaleron Bay,Piraeus, Greece, the following day for a welcome by Greek government officials andanti-communist citizens. Greece had become the scene of acivil war between thepro-communist-dominated left-wingresistance organizationEAM-ELAS and the returning Greek government-in-exile. The United States saw this as an important test case for its new doctrine ofcontainment of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were also pushing for concessions in theDodecanese to be included in thepeace treaty with Italy and for access through theDardanelles strait between theBlack Sea and the Mediterranean. The voyage ofMissouri to the eastern Mediterranean symbolized America's strategic commitment to the region. News media proclaimed her a symbol of US interest in preserving Greece and Turkey's independence.[16]
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Missouri departed Piraeus on 26 April, touching atAlgiers andTangiers before arriving at Norfolk on 9 May. She departed forCulebra Island on 12 May to join Admiral Mitscher's8th Fleet in the Navy's first large-scale postwar Atlantic training maneuvers. The battleship returned to New York City on 27 May, and spent the next year steaming Atlantic coastal waters north to theDavis Strait and south to theCaribbean on various training exercises.[16] On 3 December, during a gunnery exercise in the North Atlantic, astar shell fired by thelight cruiserLittle Rock accidentally struck the battleship, killing one crewman and wounding three others.[41]
Missouri arrived atRio de Janeiro on 30 August 1947 for theInter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Hemisphere Peace and Security. President Truman boarded on 2 September to celebrate the signing of theRio Treaty, which broadened theMonroe Doctrine by stipulating that an attack on any one of the signatory American countries would be considered an attack on all.[16]
The Truman family boardedMissouri on 7 September 1947 to return to the United States and disembarked at Norfolk on 19 September. Her overhaul in New York, which lasted from 23 September to 10 March 1948[16] included upgrading most of her radar suite. The SK-2 system was replaced by aSR-3 radar and both SG fire-control radars were removed, an improvedSG-6 replaced the forward antenna and the aft SG was exchanged for aSP height-finding radar;Mark 25 fire-control radars replaced the combination Mark 12/22 installations on the roofs of the Mark 37 directors.[42] After the overhaul, the ship worked up atGuantanamo Bay. The summer of 1948 was devoted to midshipman and reserve training cruises. Also in 1948,Missouri became the first battleship to host ahelicopter detachment, operating two SikorskyHO3S-1 machines for utility and rescue work.[43] The battleship departed Norfolk on 1 November 1948 for a second three-weekArctic cold-weather training cruise to the Davis Strait. During the next two years,Missouri participated in exercises from theNew England coast to the Caribbean, alternated with two midshipman summer training cruises. She was overhauled at Norfolk Naval Shipyard from 23 September 1949 to 17 January 1950.[16][44]
Throughout the latter half of the 1940s, the various service branches of the United States had been reducing their inventories from their World War II levels. For the Navy, this resulted in several vessels of various types being decommissioned and either sold for scrap or placed in one of the variousUnited States Navy reserve fleets scattered along the coasts. As part of this contraction, three of theIowa-class battleships had been de-activated and decommissioned but President Truman refused to allowMissouri to be decommissioned. Against the advice ofSecretary of DefenseLouis Johnson, Secretary of the NavyJohn L. Sullivan, and Chief of Naval OperationsLouis E. Denfeld, Truman orderedMissouri to be maintained with the active fleet partly because of his fondness for the battleship and partly because the battleship had been christened by his daughter Margaret.[45][46]
Captain William D. Brown assumed command of the battleship on 10 December while she was being overhauled.[47] Then the only US battleship in commission,Missouri was proceeding fromHampton Roads on her first training exercise at sea since the overhaul, early on 17 January 1950 when sheran aground 1.6 mi (2.6 km) fromThimble Shoal Light, nearOld Point Comfort. She hit shoal water a distance of three ship-lengths from the main channel.[16] The error resulted from a combination of many factors, including Brown's inexperience maneuvering such a large ship. The grounding occurred during a particularly high tide making the effort to free her even more difficult as did having an abandonedanchor becoming embedded in her hull. After off-loading ammunition, fuel and food to lighten the battleship,[48] she was refloated on 1 February with the aid oftugboats,pontoons,beach gear and a rising tide.[49]
After the subsequentNaval Board of Inquiry, Brown and three of his officers werecourt-martialled. Brown was relieved of command and his subordinates were reprimanded. CaptainHarold Page Smith assumed command on 7 February as theMissouri's repairs were being completed. Having repaired morale aboard during his tenure as the ship was relegated to training duties in an effort to cut costs by Johnson, Page Smith was replaced by Captain Irving Duke on 19 April.[50]
In 1950, theKorean War started, prompting the United States to intervene on behalf of theUnited Nations (UN). President Truman ordered US forces stationed in Japan into South Korea. Truman also sent US-based troops, tanks,fighter andbomber aircraft, and a strong naval force to Korea to support the Republic of Korea. As part of the naval mobilizationMissouri was transferred to thePacific Fleet and dispatched from Norfolk on 19 August to support UN forces on the Korean peninsula.[16] Due to the urgency of her mission Duke took the battleship directly through ahurricane off the coast ofNorth Carolina on 20 August that blew her helicopters off the stern and damaged her enough that she required nearly a week's worth of repairs once she reached Pearl Harbor.[51]
Missouri arrived just west ofKyūshū on 14 September, where she became the flagship of Rear AdmiralAllan Edward Smith. The first American battleship to reach Korean waters, she bombardedSamchok on 15 September in an attempt to divert troops and attention from theIncheon landings.[16] After a brief visit toSasebo, Japan, to resupply, the ship arrived atIncheon on 19 September, and began bombarding North Korean troops as they retreated north.[52] On 10 October she became flagship of Rear AdmiralJohn M. Higgins, commander of Cruiser Division 5. She arrived at Sasebo on 14 October, where she became flagship of Vice AdmiralA. D. Struble, Commander,Seventh Fleet. After screening the carrierValley Forge along the east coast ofKorea, she conducted bombardment missions from 12 to 26 October in theChongjin andTanchon areas on the west coast, and atWonsan where she again screened carriers eastward of Wonsan.[16] During this time,comedianBob Hope visited the battleship and gave three performances for the crew.[53]
MacArthur's amphibious landings at Incheon had severed theKorean People's Army (KPA) supply lines; as a result, the KPA had begun a lengthy retreat from South Korea into North Korea. This retreat was closely monitored by thePeople's Republic of China (PRC), out of fear that the UN offensive against Korea would create a US-backed enemy on China's border, and out of concern that the UN offensive in Korea could evolve into a UN war against China.[54] In an effort to dissuade UN forces from completely overrunning North Korea, the People's Republic of China issued diplomatic warnings that they would use force to protect North Korea, but these warnings were not taken seriously for a number of reasons.[55][56] This changed abruptly on 19 October 1950, when the first of an eventual total of380,000People's Liberation Army soldiers under the command of GeneralPeng Dehuai crossed into North Korea, launching a full-scaleassault against advancing UN troops. The PRC offensive forced UN troops to retreat. TheMissouri provided gunfire support during theHungnam evacuation in December until the last UN troops, the American3rd Infantry Division, departed on 24 December.[16]
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In early 1951Missouri alternated carrier escort duty and shore bombardments off the east coast of Korea until 19 March.[16] During a visit toYokosuka, Japan, Captain George Wright relieved Duke as commanding officer on 2 March.[57] The battleship arrived at Yokosuka on 24 March and departed the port four days later for the United States,[16] having fired 2,895 sixteen-inch rounds and 8,043 five-inch shells during her deployment.[58] Upon her arrival at Norfolk on 27 April the ship became the flagship of Rear AdmiralJames L. Holloway, Jr., commander, Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet.[16] From May to August, she engaged in twomidshipman training cruises.Missouri enteredNorfolk Naval Shipyard 18 October for an overhaul which lasted until 30 January 1952.[16] CaptainJohn Sylvester assumed command of the ship the same day her overhaul began.[59]
Missouri spent the next six months training out of Guantanamo Bay and Norfolk and made a port visit to New York in May where she participated in Navy Day celebrations, hosting nearly 11,000 visitors.[60] She returned to Norfolk on 4 August and entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard to prepare for a second tour in the Korean combat zone.[16] Captain Warner Edsall relieved Sylvester at the beginning of the overhaul.[61] The battleship departed Hampton Roads on 11 September and arrived at Yokosuka on 17 October.[16]
Vice AdmiralJoseph J. Clark, commander of the Seventh Fleet, brought his staff onboard on 19 October. Her primary mission was to provide naval gunfire support, codenamed "Cobra strikes", in the Chaho-Tanchon area, at Chongjin, in the Tanchon-Sonjin area, and at Chaho, Wonsan,Hamhung, and Hungnam from 25 October through 2 January 1953.[16] One of the ship's helicopters crashed on 21 December while trying to assess the damage from a bombardment; all three men aboard were killed.[62]Missouri put into Incheon on 5 January and then sailed to Sasebo. GeneralMark W. Clark, Commander in Chief, UN Command, and Admiral SirGuy Russell, the BritishCommander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet, visited the battleship on 23 January. In the following weeks,Missouri resumed "Cobra" missions along the east coast of Korea.[16] As part of these, the ship would enter Wonsan Harbor to bombard targets there. North Korea artillery fruitlessly engaged her there on two occasions, 5 and 10 March, as their shells were fused to burst in the air. In retaliation for the latter incident,Missouri's five-inch guns fired 998 shells at the North Korean positions.[63] The last bombardment mission byMissouri was against the Kojo area on 25 March; she had fired 2,895 sixteen-inch and 8,043 five-inch shells during the deployment. The following day, Edsall suffered a fatalheart attack whileconning her through theanti-submarine nets defending Sasebo Harbor. Captain Robert Brodie assumed command on 4 April.Missouri was relieved as the Seventh Fleet flagship on 6 April byNew Jersey and departed Yokosuka on 7 April.[16][64]
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Missouri arrived at Norfolk on 4 May; Rear Admiral E. T. Woolridge, commander, Battleships-Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, hoisted his flag aboard her 10 days later. She departed on 8 June on a midshipman training cruise to Brazil, Cuba and Panama and returned to Norfolk on 4 August. Woolridge hauled down his flag in October as he transferred to another ship; Rear Admiral Clark Green, commander of Battleship Division 2 replaced him. The battleship was overhauled in Norfolk Naval Shipyard from 20 November to 2 April 1954 that included replacing her 16-inch guns[65] and exchanging her SP radar for aSPS-8 system that required strengthening the mainmast to handle its weight.[66] The day before the end of the overhaul, CaptainTaylor Keith relieved Brodie in command of the ship. As the flagship of Rear AdmiralRuthven Libby, who had relieved Woolridge,Missouri departed Norfolk on 7 June as the flagship of the midshipman training cruise toLisbon, Portugal,Cherbourg, France, and Cuba.[67] During this voyageMissouri was joined by the other three battleships of her class, the only time the four ships sailed together.[68] She returned to Norfolk on 3 August and departed on 23 August to be placed in reserve on the West Coast. The ship hosted 16,900 people atLong Beach, but more than 20,100 visited in San Francisco.[69]Missouri arrived inSeattle on 15 September where she again hosted visitors and subsequently off-loaded her ammunition at the facility inBangor.[70] The ship was decommissioned on 26 February 1955 atPuget Sound Naval Shipyard where she was assigned to the Bremerton group of thePacific Reserve Fleet.[16][71][72]Missouri retained her Mark 27 radar until the mid-1950s.[73]
Missouri was moored at the last pier of the reserve fleet berthing. She served as a tourist attraction, logging about 250,000 visitors per year,[74] who came to view the "surrender deck" where a bronze plaque memorialized the spot (35°21′17″N139°45′36″E / 35.3547°N 139.76°E /35.3547; 139.76) in Tokyo Bay where Japan surrendered to the Allies. The accompanying historical display included copies of the surrender documentsand photos.[71] Nearly thirty years passed beforeMissouri returned to active duty.[72]
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Under theReagan Administration's program to build a600-ship Navy, led by Secretary of the NavyJohn F. Lehman,Missouri was reactivated and towed by thesalvage shipBeaufort to the Long Beach Naval Yard in the summer of 1984 to undergo modernization in advance of her scheduled recommissioning.[16][74] In preparation for the move, a skeleton crew of 20 spent three weeks working 12 to 16-hour days preparing the battleship for her tow.[75]
Over the next several months, the ship had her obsolete armament removed: 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns, their directors, and four of her ten 5-inch gun mounts. Installed in their place on the superstructure were four Mk 141 quad cell launchers for 16RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, eight Mk 143 Armored Box Launcher mounts for 32BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and a quartet of 20 mmPhalanx CIWSrotary cannon for defense against enemyanti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft. She also received upgrades to radar and fire-control systems for her guns and missiles, and improvedelectronic warfare capabilities. Additions included anAN/SPS-49 early-warning radar and anAN/SPS-67 surface-search radar[76] while the SPS-8 radar and the mainmast were removed.[77] The added missile capacity necessitated additional fire-support systems to launch and guide the ordnance. To fire the Harpoon anti-ship missiles, the ship was equipped with the SWG-1 fire-control system.Missouri was also outfitted with theAN/SLQ-25 Nixie to be used as a decoy against enemy torpedoes, anAN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite electronic-warfare system that can detect, jam, and deceive an opponent's radar and aMark 36 SRBOC system to firechaff rockets intended to confuse enemy missiles.[78] The ship's crew now consisted of 65 officers and 1,450 enlisted men.[6]
During the modernization the ship's 800 lb (360 kg) bell, which had been removed from the battleship and sent toJefferson City, Missouri for sesquicentennial celebrations in the state, was formally returned to the battleship in advance of her recommissioning.[79]Missouri was formally recommissioned in San Francisco on 10 May 1986 with Captain Albert Kaiss in command. "This is a day to celebrate the rebirth of American sea power", Secretary of DefenseCaspar Weinberger told an audience of 10,000 at the recommissioning ceremony, instructing the crew to "listen for the footsteps of those who have gone before you. They speak to you of honor and the importance of duty. They remind you of your own traditions."[80] Margaret Truman gave a short speech especially aimed at the ship's crew, which ended with "now take care of my baby." Her remarks were met with rounds of applause from the crew.[81]
Only briefly in command, Kaiss was relieved by Captain James A. Carney on 20 June.[59] Three months laterMissouri departed from her new home port ofLong Beach for an around-the-world cruise, visiting Pearl Harbor Hawaii;Sydney,Hobart, andPerth, Australia;Diego Garcia; theSuez Canal;Istanbul, Turkey;Naples, Italy;Rota, Spain;Lisbon, Portugal; and thePanama Canal.Missouri became the first American battleship tocircumnavigate the globe sinceTheodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" 80 years before—a fleet which included the first battleship namedUSS Missouri (BB-11).[16]
In 1987,Missouri was outfitted with 40 mmgrenade launchers and 25 mmchain guns and sent to take part inOperation Earnest Will, the escorting of reflaggedKuwaitioil tankers in thePersian Gulf.[82] These smaller-caliber weapons were installed due to the threat ofIranian-manned,Swedish-madeBoghammarcigarette boats operating in the Persian Gulf at the time.[83] On 25 July, the ship departed on a six-month deployment to the Indian Ocean and NorthArabian Sea. She spent more than 100 continuous days at sea in a hot, tense environment. As the centerpiece for Battlegroup Echo,Missouri escorted tanker convoys through theStrait of Hormuz, keeping her fire-control system trained on land-based IranianSilkworm missile launchers.[84]
The ship returned to the United States via Diego Garcia, Australia, and Hawaii in early 1988. Captain John Chernesky relieved Carney on 6 July in Pearl Harbor during the biennialRim of the Pacific (RimPac) exercises that had begun a few weeks earlier. Other highlights during the year included port visits inBritish Columbia andWashington.[85]
In the early months of 1989,Missouri was in theLong Beach Naval Shipyard for routine maintenance. It was there that the Missouri was the site and setting ofCher's music video forIf I Could Turn Back Time. A few months later she departed for the multi-nationalPacific Exercise (PacEx) '89, where she andNew Jersey performed a firepower demonstration off Okinawa for the Japanese and some of the other allied ships. Missouri fired 45 rounds of 16-inch and 263 of 5-inch, considerably more than her sister. The highlight of PacEx was a port visit inBusan, South Korea during which she had some trouble docking in the port's shallow water. At the end of the year, the ship visitedMazatlan, Mexico. In early 1990,Missouri again took part in the RimPac Exercise and Kaiss returned to relieve Chernesky on 13 June.[86]
On 2 August 1990Iraqinvaded Kuwait. In the middle of that month US PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush sent the first of several hundred thousand troops toSaudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf area, along with a strong force of naval support, to support a multinational force.[87]
Missouri had been scheduled for a four-month Pacific port-to-port cruise to begin in September, after which the ship was to begin the process of inactivation. Instead, that cruise was canceled just a few days before the ship was to leave and she was placed on hold in anticipation of being mobilized for Middle East service.
As part of the preparations for combat, a detachment ofAAI RQ-2 Pioneerunmanned aerial vehicles were transferred to the ship to improve her ability to direct her gunfire.Missouri departed on 13 November 1990 for the troubled waters of the Persian Gulf. She departed Long Beach, with extensive press coverage, and headed for Hawaii and thePhilippines for more work-ups en route to the Persian Gulf. Along the way she made stops atSubic Bay andPattaya, Thailand, before transiting theStrait of Hormuz on 3 January 1991. BeforeOperation Desert Storm began later that month,Missouri prepared to launch Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and provide naval gunfire support as required. The ship fired her first Tomahawk missile at Iraqi targets at 01:40 am on 17 January 1991, followed by 27 additional missiles over the next five days.[88]
On 29 January, thefrigateCurts escortedMissouri northward. In her first bombardment action of Desert Storm, she shelled an Iraqi command and control bunker near the Saudi border, the first time her 16-inch guns had been fired in combat since March 1953 off Korea.[89] The battleship bombarded beach defenses in occupied Kuwait on the night of 3 February, firing 112 main-gun rounds over the next three days until relieved byWisconsin.Missouri then fired another 60 rounds offKhafji on 11–12 February before steaming north toFaylaka Island. Afterminesweepers cleared a lane through Iraqi defenses, the ship fired 133 rounds during four shore bombardment missions as part of the amphibious landingfeint against the Kuwaiti coast the morning of 23 and 24 February. The heavy pounding attracted Iraqi attention; in response to the battleship's artillery strike, the Iraqis fired two HY-2Silkworm missiles at the battleship, one of which crashed shortly after launching. The other missile was intercepted by a GWS-30Sea Dart missile launched from the British destroyerHMS Gloucester[90] within 90 seconds and crashed into the sea roughly 700 yd (640 m) in front ofMissouri.[91][92] Shortly afterwards, the battleship's Pioneer drones located the missile launchers and neutralized them with about fifty 16-inch shells.[93]
During the campaign,Missouri was involved in afriendly fire incident with the frigateJarrett. According to the official report, on 25 February,Jarrett's Phalanx CIWS engaged thechaff fired byMissouri as a countermeasure against enemy missiles, and stray rounds from the firing struck the battleship, one penetrating through a bulkhead and becoming embedded in an interior passageway of the ship. One sailor aboardMissouri was struck in the neck by flying debris and suffered minor injuries.[94][95]
During the operation,Missouri also assisted coalition forces engaged in clearing Iraqi naval mines in the Persian Gulf. By the time the war ended, the ship's crew had destroyed at least 15 naval mines.[91]
With combat operations out of range of the battleship's weapons on 26 February,Missouri had fired a total of 783 sixteen-inch shells and launched 28Tomahawk cruise missiles during the campaign,[96] and began patrolling the northern Persian Gulf until sailing for home on 21 March. Following stops atFremantle and Hobart, Australia, the warship visited Pearl Harbor before arriving home in April. She spent the remainder of the year, hosting visitors in between training missions, the latter including a 7 December "voyage of remembrance" to mark the 50th anniversary of thePearl Harbor attack in 1941. During that ceremony,Missouri hosted President Bush, the first such presidential visit for the warship since Harry S. Truman's in September 1947.[16][97]
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Thecollapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the absence of a perceived threat to the United States led todrastic cuts in the defense budget, and the high cost of maintaining and operating battleships as part of the United States Navy's active fleet became uneconomical. As a resultMissouri was decommissioned on 31 March 1992 at Long Beach.[18] Her last commanding officer, Captain Albert L. Kaiss, wrote in the ship's final Plan of the Day:
Our final day has arrived. Today the final chapter in battleshipMissouri's history will be written. It's often said that the crew makes the command. There is no truer statement ... for it's the crew of this great ship that made this a great command. You are a special breed of sailors and Marines and I am proud to have served with each and every one of you. To you who have made the painful journey of putting this great lady to sleep, I thank you. For you have had the toughest job. To put away a ship that has become as much a part of you as you are to her is a sad ending to a great tour. But take solace in this—you have lived up to the history of the ship and those who sailed her before us. We took her to war, performed magnificently and added another chapter in her history, standing side by side our forerunners in true naval tradition. God bless you all.
— Captain Albert L. Kaiss[80]
Missouri returned to be part of theUnited States Navy reserve fleet at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard,Bremerton, Washington, until 12 January 1995, when she was struck from theNaval Vessel Register. She remained in Bremerton, but was not open to tourists as she had been from 1957 to 1984. In spite of attempts by citizens' groups to keep her in Bremerton and be re-opened as a tourist site, the US Navy wanted to pair a symbol of the end of World War II with one representing (for the United States) its beginning.[99] On 4 May 1998, Secretary of the NavyJohn H. Dalton signed the donation contract that transferred her to the USSMissouri Memorial Association (MMA) ofHonolulu, Hawaii,[91] a501(c)(3) non-profit organization.[100] She was towed bySea Victory from Bremerton on 23 May toAstoria, Oregon, where she sat infresh water at the mouth of theColumbia River to kill and drop the saltwaterbarnacles andsea grasses that had grown on herhull in Bremerton,[91] then towed across the eastern Pacific, and docked atFord Island, Pearl Harbor on 22 June, 500 yd (460 m) from theArizona Memorial.[80] Less than a year later, on 29 January 1999,Missouri was opened as a museum operated by the MMA.[101]
Originally, the decision to moveMissouri to Pearl Harbor was met with some resistance. TheNational Park Service expressed concern that the battleship, whose name has become synonymous with the end of World War II, would overshadow the battleshipArizona, whose dramatic explosion and subsequent sinking on 7 December 1941 has since become synonymous with the attack on Pearl Harbor. To help guard against this impressionMissouri was placed well back from and facing theArizona Memorial, so that those participating in military ceremonies onMissouri's aft decks would not have sight of theArizona Memorial. The decision to haveMissouri's bow face theArizona Memorial was intended to convey thatMissouri watches over the remains ofArizona so that those interred withinArizona's hull may rest in peace.[102]
Missouri was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places on 14 May 1971 for hosting the signing of theinstrument of Japanese surrender that ended World War II.[102] She is not eligible for designation as aNational Historic Landmark because she was extensively modernized in the years following the surrender.[103]
On 14 October 2009,Missouri was moved from her berthing station on Battleship Row to adrydock at thePearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to undergo a three-month overhaul. The work, priced at $18 million, included installing a new anti-corrosion system, repainting the hull, and upgrading the internal mechanisms. Drydock workers reported that the ship was leaking at some points on the starboard side.[104] The repairs were completed the first week of January 2010 and the ship was returned to her berthing station on Battleship Row on 7 January 2010. The ship's grand reopening occurred on 30 January.[105] In 2018, a $3.5 million project was completed to restore and preserve the superstructure. This included the lower navigation bridge on level four which includes the chart house, the captain's at-sea cabin, pilot house and conning tower and the open bridge on level five.[106]
Missouri earned threebattle stars for World War II service, five for Korean War service and further three for Gulf War service. She has also earned the following awards:[107]
  | |||
 |  |  | |
 |   |  | |
 |  |   | |
 | .svg) |  | |
.svg) |  | _ribbon.svg) | |
| 1st row | Combat Action Ribbon | Navy Unit Commendation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd row | Meritorious Unit Commendation | Navy "E" Ribbon with WreathedBattle E device | China Service Medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd row | American Campaign Medal | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with threecampaign stars | World War II Victory Medal |
| 4th row | Navy Occupation Service Medal | National Defense Service Medal with service star | Korean Service Medal with silver service star (5 campaigns) |
| 5th row | Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal | Southwest Asia Service Medal with two campaign stars | Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with two service stars |
| 6th row | Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation | United Nations Service Medal | Liberation of Kuwait Medal |
Cher asked to film her 1989 music video of her song "If I Could Turn Back Time" aboard a US Navy ship and the Navy's Office of Information in Washington approved. The Navy intended to have it filmed aboardNew Jersey becauseMissouri would be at sea at the planned time.Missouri's information officer told the producer: "We're the most historic battleship in the world. This is where World War II ended. You want to do it on here."[108] Cher changed her schedule so that it could be filmed aboardMissouri. The performance was filmed over the4th of July weekend. "The production people did a spectacular job of rigging the ship with lights; The battleship became a dramatic stage for the...video."[109] Her performance was racier than expected with her wearing a very revealing costume and straddling one of the 16-inch guns during a part of the performance.[108] The video was mostly well received, especially by the crew, but the Navy received some complaints. ColumnistJack Anderson wrote "If battleships could blush, the USSMissouri would be bright red".[108] Afterwards,Missouri's captain directed that the song be played when the ship was conducting underway replenishments with other ships.[110]
Missouri was central to the plot of the 1992 filmUnder Siege, though many of the on-ship scenes were shot aboard the similar but older battleshipUSS Alabama. The ship plays a significant role in the final act of the 2008 stealth action gameMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.[111][112] The ship was also prominently featured in the 2012 sci-fi action filmBattleship. AsMissouri has not moved under her own power since 1992, shots of the ship at sea were obtained with the help of three tugboats.[113][114]
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