Qualla: USS Missouri (BB-63)

USS Missouri (BB-63): Introduction

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. At 9:04 a.m. on September 2, 1945, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the Instrument of Surrender on the quarterdeck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. General Douglas MacArthur stood at a microphone. Representatives from nine Allied nations followed. When the last signature dried, MacArthur spoke six words: "These proceedings are closed." The spot where Shigemitsu sat is marked on Missouri's teak deck with a brass plaque. The pen MacArthur used is preserved behind glass. And the ship herself -- the last battleship the United States ever commissioned -- now floats in Pearl Harbor, her bow pointed toward the sunken Arizona, bookending the war from both sides.

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Image: U.S. Navy | Public domain

USS Missouri (BB-63): Built for a War Already Changing

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit USN, Public domain. Missouri was an Iowa-class battleship, laid down at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn on January 6, 1941, and launched on January 29, 1944. Completed in June 1944, she carried a crew of roughly 2,700. By the time she reached the Pacific, the nature of naval warfare had shifted d...

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Image: USN | Public domain

USS Missouri (BB-63): The Kamikaze and the Captain's Order

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bill Ward from El Cerrito, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0. Missouri saw action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where kamikaze attacks reached their peak intensity. On April 11, 1945, a Japanese Zero dove toward the ship at deck level. Its wing clipped Missouri's side, and the plane crashed into the hull below the main deck, starting a small fir...

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Image: Bill Ward from El Cerrito, CA, USA | CC BY 2.0

USS Missouri (BB-63): Three Wars and a Grounding

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. After the surrender ceremony, Missouri's service was far from over. She carried midshipmen on training cruises and made a high-profile visit to Istanbul in 1946, a diplomatic signal underscoring American commitment to Turkey during early Cold War tensions. In January 1950, she ra...

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Image: U.S. Navy | Public domain

USS Missouri (BB-63): The Final Berth

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roastedbeanz1, CC BY 4.0. Missouri was decommissioned for the last time on March 31, 1992, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995. Three years later, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and towed to Pearl Harbor, arriving on June 22, 1998. She opened as a museum ship on Jan...

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Image: Roastedbeanz1 | CC BY 4.0