Afterward, visitors may look around on their own. Some follow the two-hour recorded tour. The Battleship Missouri Memorial is open from 9 a.m. to 5p.m. daily except Christmas. Along Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor are the docks where World War II began for the United States. On the battleship's teak deck, Japanese dignitaries signed the surrender that brought more than three years of warfare to a close.
Paint is fresh.
Big guns jut from turrets. The touchstone of peace looks ready for war. The formidable military bearing, however, is no longer meant to intimidate enemies. Since January 1999, when the vessel opened as the USS Missouri Memorial, the ship gives visitors a taste of history and daily life on the Mighty Mo and honors the sailors and officers who served aboard it. The museum ship is moored just south of the USS Arizona Memorial, at the site where the battleships Maryland and Oklahoma were tied up the day the Japanese attacked.