USS Missouri (BB-63)

**USS *Missouri* (BB-63)** ("**Mighty Mo**" or "**Big Mo**") is a United States Navy *Iowa*-class battleship and was the third ship of the U.S. Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Missouri. *Missouri* was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and was best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II.

*Missouri* was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands, and she fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991.
*Missouri* received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned on 31 March 1992, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995. In 1998, she was donated to the USS *Missouri* Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.

## Construction

Main articles: Iowa-class battleship and Armament of the Iowa-class battleship

*Missouri* was one of the *Iowa*-class "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was laid down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 6 January 1941, launched on 29 January 1944 and commissioned on 11 June with Captain William Callaghan in command. The ship was the third of the *Iowa* class, but the fourth and final *Iowa*-class ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy.[1][2][3][4] The ship was christened at her launching by Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S. Truman, then a United States Senator from Missouri.[5]
*Missouri*'s main battery consisted of nine 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns, which could fire 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) armor-piercing shells some 20 mi (32.2 km). Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal guns in twin turrets, with a range of about 10 mi (16 km). With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of allied aircraft carriers; to this end, *Missouri* was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend allied carriers from enemy airstrikes. When reactivated in 1984 *Missouri* had her 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns removed, and was outfitted with Phalanx CIWS mounts for protection against enemy missiles and aircraft, and Armored Box Launchers and Quad Cell Launchers designed to fire Tomahawk missiles and Harpoon missiles, respectively.[6]

*Missouri* was the last U.S. battleship to be completed.[2][7] *Wisconsin*, the highest-numbered U.S. battleship built, was completed before *Missouri*; BB-65 to BB-71 were ordered but cancelled.

## World War II (1944–1945)

### Shakedown and service with Task Force 58, Admiral Mitscher

After trials off New York and shakedown and battle practice in the Chesapeake Bay, *Missouri* departed Norfolk, Virginia on 11 November 1944, transited the Panama Canal on 18 November and steamed to San Francisco for final fitting out as fleet flagship. She stood out of San Francisco Bay on 14 December and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 24 December 1944. She departed Hawaii on 2 January 1945 and arrived in Ulithi, West Caroline Islands on 13 January. There she was temporary headquarters ship for Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher. The battleship put to sea on 27 January to serve in the screen of the *Lexington* carrier task group of Mitscher's TF 58, and on 16 February the task force's aircraft carriers launched the first naval air strikes against Japan since the famed Doolittle raid, which had been launched from the carrier *Hornet* in April 1942.[5]

*Missouri* then steamed with the carriers to Iwo Jima where her main guns provided direct and continuous support to the invasion landings begun on 19 February. After TF 58 returned to Ulithi on 5 March, *Missouri* was assigned to the *Yorktown* carrier task group. On 14 March, *Missouri*
 departed Ulithi in the screen of the fast carriers and steamed to the
Japanese mainland. During strikes against targets along the coast of the
 Inland Sea of Japan beginning on 18 March, *Missouri* shot down four Japanese aircraft.[5]

Raids against airfields and naval bases near the Inland Sea and southwestern Honshū continued. When the carrier '**Franklin'** incurred battle damage, the *Missouri*'s carrier task group provided cover for the *Franklin's* retirement toward Ulithi until 22 March, then set course for pre-invasion strikes and bombardment of Okinawa.[5]

*Missouri* joined the fast battleships of TF 58 in bombarding
the southeast coast of Okinawa on 24 March, an action intended to draw
enemy strength from the west coast beaches that would be the actual site
 of invasion landings. *Missouri* rejoined the screen of the carriers as Marine and Army units stormed the shores of Okinawa on the morning of 1 April. An attack by Japanese forces was repulsed successfully.[5]

A Japanese Zero about to hit *Missouri* 11 April 1945

On 11 April, a low-flying *kamikaze*, although fired upon, crashed on *Missouri*'s starboard
 side, just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the plane
was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at 5 in (127 mm) Gun
Mount No. 3. The battleship suffered only superficial damage, and the
fire was brought quickly under control.[5]
 The remains of the pilot were recovered on board the ship just aft of
one of the 40 mm gun tubs. Captain Callaghan decided that the young
Japanese pilot had done his job to the best of his ability, and with
honor, so he should be given a military funeral. The following day he was buried at sea with military honors.[8]

About 23:05 on 17 April, *Missouri* detected an enemy submarine 12 mi (19 km) from her formation. Her report set off a hunter-killer operation by the light carrier *Bataan* and four destroyers, which sank the Japanese submarine *I-56*.[5]

*Missouri* was detached from the carrier task force off Okinawa
on 5 May and sailed for Ulithi. During the Okinawa campaign she had shot
 down five enemy planes, assisted in the destruction of six others, and
scored one probable kill. She helped repel 12 daylight attacks of enemy
raiders and fought off four night attacks on her carrier task group. Her shore bombardment destroyed several gun emplacements and many other military, governmental, and industrial structures.[5]

### Service with the Third Fleet, Admiral Halsey

*Missouri* arrived at Ulithi on 9 May and then proceeded to Apra Harbor, Guam, arriving on 18 May. That afternoon Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander Third Fleet, brought his command into the *Missouri*.[9]
 She passed out of the harbor on 21 May, and by 27 May was again
conducting shore bombardment against Japanese positions on Okinawa. *Missouri* led the 3rd Fleet in strikes on airfields and installations on Kyūshū on 2–3 June. She rode out a fierce storm on 5 and 6 June that wrenched the bow off the cruiser *Pittsburgh*. Some topside fittings were smashed, but *Missouri*
 suffered no major damage. Her fleet again struck Kyūshū on 8 June, then
 hit hard in a coordinated air-surface bombardment before retiring
towards Leyte. She arrived at San Pedro Bay, Leyte on 13 June, after almost three months of continuous operations in support of the Okinawa campaign.[5]

Here she rejoined the powerful 3rd Fleet in strikes at the heart of
Japan from within its home waters. The fleet set a northerly course on 8
 July to approach the Japanese main island, Honshū. Raids took Tokyo by
surprise on 10 July, followed by more devastation at the juncture of Honshū and Hokkaidō,
 the second-largest Japanese island, on 13–14 July. For the first time,
naval gunfire destroyed a major installation within the home islands
when *Missouri* joined in a shore bombardment on 15 July that severely damaged the Nihon Steel Co. and the Wanishi Ironworks at Muroran, Hokkaido.[5]

During the nights of 17 and 18 July, *Missouri* bombarded industrial targets in Honshū. Inland Sea aerial strikes continued through 25 July, and *Missouri* guarded the carriers as they attacked the Japanese home islands.[5]

### Signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender

Main article: Japanese Instrument of Surrender

*Missouri* (left) transfers personnel to *Iowa* in advance of the surrender ceremony planned for 2 September.

Allied sailors and officers watch General of the Army Douglas MacArthur sign documents during the surrender ceremony aboard *Missouri* on 2 September 1945. The unconditional surrender of the Japanese to the Allies officially ended the Second World War.

Strikes on Hokkaidō and northern Honshū resumed on 9 August, the day the second atomic bomb was dropped.[5]
After the Japanese agreed to surrender, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser of the Royal Navy, the Commander of the British Pacific Fleet, boarded *Missouri* on 16 August and conferred the honour of Knight of the British Empire upon Admiral Halsey. *Missouri* transferred a landing party of 200 officers and men to the battleship *Iowa* for temporary duty with the initial occupation force for Tokyo on 21 August. *Missouri* herself entered Tokyo Bay early on 29 August to prepare for the signing by Japan of the official instrument of surrender.[5]

High-ranking military officials of all the Allied Powers were received on board on 2 September, including Chinese General Hsu Yung-Ch'ang, British Admiral-of-the-Fleet Sir Bruce Fraser, Soviet Lieutenant-General Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko, Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey, Canadian Colonel Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, French Général d'Armée Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque, Dutch Vice Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich, and New Zealand Air Vice Marshal Leonard M. Isitt.

Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz boarded shortly after 0800, and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allies, came on board at 0843. The Japanese representatives, headed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, arrived at 0856. At 0902, General MacArthur stepped before a battery of microphones and opened the 23-minute surrender ceremony to the waiting world by stating,[5]
 "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."[10]

During the surrender ceremony, the deck of *Missouri* was decorated with a 31-star American flag that had been taken ashore by Commodore Matthew Perry
 in 1853 after his squadron of "Black Ships" sailed into Tokyo Bay to
force the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade. This flag was
actually displayed with the reverse side showing, i.e., stars in the
upper right corner: the historic flag was so fragile that the
conservator at the Naval Academy Museum had sewn a protective linen
backing to one side to help secure the fabric from deteriorating,
leaving its "wrong side" visible. The flag was displayed in a
wood-framed case secured to the bulkhead overlooking the surrender
ceremony.[11]
 Another U.S. flag was raised and flown during the occasion, a flag that
 some sources have indicated was in fact that flag which had flown over
the U.S. Capitol on 7 December 1941. This is not true; it was a flag
taken from the ship's stock, according to Missouri's Commanding Officer,
 Captain Stuart "Sunshine" Murray, and it was "...just a plain ordinary
GI-issue flag".[12]

By 09:30 the Japanese emissaries had departed. In the afternoon of 5
September, Admiral Halsey transferred his flag to the battleship *South Dakota*, and early the next day *Missouri* departed Tokyo Bay. As part of the ongoing Operation 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.[5]

## Post-war (1946–1950)

*Missouri* moves through the Panama Canal en route to the United States in October 1945.

The next day, *Missouri* departed Pearl Harbor bound for the
eastern seaboard of the United States. She reached New York City on 23
October and hoisted the flag of Atlantic Fleet commander Admiral Jonas Ingram. Four days later, *Missouri* boomed out a 21-gun salute as President Truman boarded for Navy Day ceremonies.[5]

After an overhaul in the New York Naval Shipyard and a training cruise to Cuba, *Missouri* returned to New York. During the afternoon of 21 March 1946, she received the remains of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Münir Ertegün. She departed on 22 March for Gibraltar, and on 5 April anchored in the Bosphorus off Istanbul.
 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.[5]

*Missouri* departed Istanbul on 9 April and entered Phaleron Bay, Piraeus, Greece,
 the following day for an overwhelming welcome by Greek government
officials and anti-communist citizens. Greece had become the scene of a civil war
 between the communist World War II resistance movement and the
returning Greek government-in-exile. The United States saw this as an
important test case for its new doctrine of containment of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were also pushing for concessions in the Dodecanese to be included in the peace treaty with Italy and for access through the Dardanelles strait between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The voyage of *Missouri*
 to the eastern Mediterranean symbolized America's strategic commitment
to the region. News media proclaimed her a symbol of U.S. interest in
preserving both nations' independence.[5]

*Missouri* departed Piraeus on 26 April, touching at Algiers and Tangiers before arriving at Norfolk on 9 May. She departed for Culebra Island on 12 May to join Admiral Mitscher's 8th 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 the Davis Strait and south to the Caribbean on various Atlantic command training exercises.[5] On 13 December, during a target practice exercise in the North Atlantic, a star shell accidentally struck the battleship, but without causing injuries.[13]

*Missouri* was accidentally grounded early on the morning of 17 January 1950.

*Missouri* arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 30 August 1947 for the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Hemisphere Peace and Security. President Truman boarded on 2 September to celebrate the signing of the Rio Treaty, which broadened the Monroe Doctrine by stipulating that an attack on any one of the signatory American countries would be considered an attack on all.[5]

The Truman family boarded *Missouri* 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—was followed by refresher training at Guantanamo Bay.
 The summer of 1948 was devoted to midshipman and reserve training
cruises. Also in 1948, the Big Mo became the first battleship to host a helicopter detachment, operating two Sikorsky HO3S-1 machines for utility and rescue work.[14] The battleship departed Norfolk on 1 November 1948 for a second three-week Arctic cold-weather training cruise to the Davis Strait. During the next two years, *Missouri* participated in Atlantic command exercises from the New 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.[5]

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 various United States Navy reserve fleets scattered along the East and West Coast of the United States. As part of this contraction, three of the *Iowa*-class battleships had been de-activated and decommissioned; however, President Truman refused to allow *Missouri* to be decommissioned. Against the advice of Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan, and Chief of Naval Operations Louis E. Denfeld, Truman ordered *Missouri*
 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 Truman.[15][16]

Then the only U.S. battleship in commission, *Missouri* was proceeding seaward on a training mission from Hampton Roads early on 17 January 1950 when she ran aground 1.6 mi (2.6 km) from Thimble Shoal Light, near Old Point Comfort.
 She hit shoal water a distance of three ship-lengths from the main
channel. Lifted some 7 feet (2.1 m) above waterline, she stuck hard and
fast.[5] With the aid of tugboats, pontoons, and a rising tide, she was refloated on 1 February 1950 and repaired.[5]

## The Korean War (1950–1953)

In 1950, the Korean War
 broke out, prompting the United States to intervene in the name of the
United Nations. President Truman was caught off guard when the invasion
struck,[17]
 but quickly ordered U.S. forces stationed in Japan into South Korea.
Truman also sent U.S.-based troops, tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft,
and a strong naval force to Korea to support the Republic of Korea. As
part of the naval mobilization *Missouri* was called up from the Atlantic Fleet and dispatched from Norfolk on 19 August to support UN forces on the Korean peninsula.[5]

*Missouri* arrived just west of Kyūshū on 14 September, where she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Allan Edward Smith. The first American battleship to reach Korean waters, she bombarded Samchok on 15 September 1950 in an attempt to divert troops and attention from the Incheon landings. This was the first time since World War II that *Missouri* had fired her guns in anger, and in company with the cruiser *Helena* and two destroyers, she helped prepare the way for the U.S. Eighth Army offensive.[5]

*Missouri* arrived at Incheon
 on 19 September, and on 10 October became flagship of Rear Admiral J.
M. Higgins, commander, Cruiser Division 5 (CruDiv 5). She arrived at Sasebo on 14 October, where she became flagship of Vice Admiral A. D. Struble, Commander, 7th Fleet. After screening the aircraft carrier *Valley Forge* along the east coast of Korea, she conducted bombardment missions from 12 to 26 October in the Chongjin and Tanchon areas, and at Wonsan where she again screened carriers eastward of Wonsan.[5]

MacArthur's amphibious landings at Incheon
 had severed the North Korean Army’s supply lines; as a result, North
Korea’s army had begun a lengthy retreat from South Korea into North
Korea. This retreat was closely monitored by the Peoples 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. The latter
of these two threats had already manifested itself during the Korea War:
 U.S. F-86 Sabres on patrol in "MiG Alley" frequently crossed into China while pursuing Communist MiGs operating out of Chinese airbases.[18]

Moreover, there was talk among the U.N. commanders—notably General Douglas MacArthur—about
 a potential campaign against the People's Republic of China. 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, among them the fact that China
lacked air cover to conduct such an attack.[19][20] This changed abruptly on 19 October 1950, when the first of an eventual total of 380,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers under the command of General Peng Dehuai crossed into North Korea, launching a full-scale assault against advancing U.N. troops.
 The PRC offensive caught the UN completely by surprise; UN forces
realized they would have to fall back, and quickly executed an emergency
 retreat. UN assets were shuffled in order to cover this retreat, and as
 part of the force tasked with covering the UN retreat *Missouri* was moved into Hungnam on 23 December to provide gunfire support about the Hungnam defense perimeter until the last UN troops, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, were evacuated by way of the sea on 24 December 1950.[5]

*Missouri* fires her guns against enemy positions during the Korean War. Notice the effect on the seawater under the guns.

*Missouri* conducted additional operations with carriers and
shore bombardments off the east coast of Korea until 19 March 1951. She
arrived at Yokosuka
 on 24 March, and 4 days later was relieved of duty in the Far East. She
 departed Yokosuka on 28 March, and upon arrival at Norfolk on 27 April
became the flagship of Rear Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr., commander, Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet. During the summer of 1951, she engaged in two midshipman training cruises to northern Europe. Under the command of Captain John Sylvester, *Missouri* entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard 18 October 1951 for an overhaul, which lasted until 30 January 1952.[5]

Following winter and spring training out of Guantanamo Bay, *Missouri*
 visited New York, then set course from Norfolk on 9 June 1952 for
another midshipman cruise. She returned to Norfolk on 4 August and
entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard to prepare for a second tour in the
Korean combat zone.[5]

*Missouri* stood out of Hampton Roads on 11 September 1952 and arrived at Yokosuka on 17 October. Vice Admiral Joseph J. Clark, commander of the 7th Fleet, brought his command onboard on 19 October. Her primary mission was to provide seagoing artillery support by bombarding enemy targets in the Chaho-Tanchon area, at Chongjin, in the Tanchon-Sonjin area, and at Chaho, Wonsan, Hamhung, and Hungnam during the period 25 October through 2 January 1953.[5]

*Missouri* put in to Incheon on 5 January 1953 and sailed thence to Sasebo, Japan. General Mark W. Clark, Commander in Chief, U.N. Command, and Admiral Sir Guy Russell, the Royal Navy commander of the British Far East Station, visited the battleship on 23 January. In the following weeks, *Missouri*
 resumed "Cobra" patrol along the east coast of Korea to support troops
ashore. Repeated bombardment of Wonsan, Tanehon, Hungnam, and Kojo
destroyed main supply routes along the eastern seaboard of Korea.[5]

The last bombardment mission by *Missouri* was against the Kojo
area on 25 March. On 26 March, her commanding officer–Captain Warner R.
Edsall–suffered a fatal heart attack while conning her through the
submarine net at Sasebo. She was relieved as the 7th Fleet flagship on 6 April by her older sister *New Jersey*.[5]

*Missouri* departed Yokosuka on 7 April and arrived at Norfolk
on 4 May to become flagship for Rear Admiral E. T. Woolridge, commander,
 Battleships-Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, on 14 May. She departed on 8 June
 on a midshipman training cruise, returned to Norfolk on 4 August, and
was overhauled in Norfolk Naval Shipyard from 20 November 1953 to 2
April 1954. As the flagship of Rear Admiral R. E. Kirby, who had
relieved Admiral Woolridge, *Missouri* departed Norfolk on 7 June as flagship of the midshipman training cruise to Lisbon and Cherbourg. During this voyage *Missouri* was joined by the other three battleships of her class, *New Jersey*, *Wisconsin*, and *Iowa*, the only time the four ships sailed together.[21] She returned to Norfolk on 3 August and departed on 23 August for inactivation on the West Coast. After calls at Long Beach and San Francisco, *Missouri* arrived in Seattle on 15 September. Three days later she entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where she was decommissioned on 26 February 1955, entering the Bremerton group, Pacific Reserve Fleet.[5]

Upon arrival in Bremerton, *Missouri* was moored at the last
pier of the reserve fleet berthing. This placed her very close to the
mainland, and she served as a popular tourist attraction, logging about
180,000 visitors per year, who came to view the "surrender deck" where a
 bronze plaque memorialized the spot (35° 21' 17" N, 139° 45' 36" E)
 where Japan surrendered to the Allies, and the accompanying historical
display that included copies of the surrender documents and photos. A
small cottage industry grew in the civilian community just outside the
gates, selling souvenirs and other memorabilia. Nearly thirty years
passed before *Missouri* returned to active duty.[5]

## Reactivation (1984 to 1990)

*Missouri* in dry dock during her modernization at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in 1985

Under the Reagan Administration’s program to build a 600-ship Navy, led by Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman, *Missouri* was reactivated and towed by the salvage ship *Beaufort* to the Long Beach Naval Yard in the summer of 1984 to undergo modernization in advance of her scheduled recommissioning.[5]
 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.[22] During the modernization *Missouri* had her obsolete armament removed: 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, and four of her ten 5-inch (130 mm) gun mounts.[23]

Crewmen man the rails as *Missouri* formally recommissions in San Francisco, California

Over the next several months, the ship was upgraded with the most
advanced weaponry available; among the new weapons systems installed
were four MK 141 quad cell launchers for 16 AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, eight Armored Box Launcher (ABL) mounts for 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, and a quartet of Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS) Gatling guns for defense against enemy anti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft.[23] Also included in her modernization were upgrades to radar and fire control systems for her guns and missiles, and improved electronic warfare capabilities.[23] During the modernization *Missouri*'s 800 lb (360 kg) bell, which had been removed from the battleship and sent to Jefferson City, Missouri for sesquicentennial celebrations in the state, was formally returned to the battleship in advance of her recommissioning.[24] *Missouri* was formally recommissioned in San Francisco on 10 May 1986. "This is a day to celebrate the rebirth of American sea power", Secretary of Defense Caspar W. 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."[25] Also present at the recommissioning ceremony was Missouri governor John Ashcroft, U.S. Senator Pete Wilson, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein, and Margaret Truman.[26]

Four months later *Missouri* departed from her new home port of Long Beach
 for an around-the-world cruise, visiting Pearl Harbor Hawaii; Sydney,
Hobart, and Perth, Australia; Diego Garcia; the Suez Canal; Istanbul,
Turkey; Naples, Italy; Rota, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; and the Panama
Canal. *Missouri* became the first American battleship to circumnavigate the globe since Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" 80 years before – a fleet which included the first battleship named USS *Missouri* (BB-11).[5]

*Missouri* undertaking an underway replenishment with *Kitty Hawk* from the MSC ship USNS *Kawishiwi*

In 1987, *Missouri* was outfitted with 40 mm grenade launchers and 25 mm chain guns and sent to take part in Operation *Earnest Will*, the escorting of reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.[27] These smaller-caliber weapons were installed due to the threat of Iranian-manned, Swedish-made Boghammar cigarette boats operating in the Persian Gulf at the time.[28] On 25 July, the ship departed on a six-month deployment to the Indian Ocean and North Arabian Sea.
 She spent more than 100 continuous days at sea in a hot, tense
environment – a striking contrast to her world cruise months earlier. As
 the centerpiece for Battlegroup Echo, *Missouri* escorted tanker convoys into the Strait of Hormuz, keeping her fire control system trained on land-based Iranian Silkworm missile launchers.[29]

*Missouri* returned to the United States via Diego Garcia, Australia and Hawaii in early 1988. Several months later, *Missouri*'s
 crew again headed for Hawaiian waters for the Rim of the Pacific
(RimPac) exercises, which involved more than 50,000 troops and ships
from the navies of Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States. Port
visits in 1988 included Vancouver and Victoria in Canada, San Diego, Seattle, and Bremerton.[5]

In the early months of 1989, *Missouri* was in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for routine maintenance. On 1 July 1989, while berthed at Pier D, the music video for Cher's *If I Could Turn Back Time*
 was filmed aboard Missouri and featured the ship's crew. A few months
later she departed for Pacific Exercise (PacEx) '89, where she and *New Jersey* performed a simultaneous gunfire demonstration for the aircraft carriers *Enterprise* and *Nimitz*. The highlight of PacEx was a port visit in Pusan, Republic of Korea. In 1990, *Missouri* again took part in the RimPac Exercise with ships from Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, and the U.S.[5]

## Gulf War (January–February 1991)

On 2 August 1990 Iraq, led by President Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait. In the middle of the month U.S. President George H. W. Bush, in keeping with the Carter Doctrine, sent the first of several hundred thousand troops, along with a strong force of naval support, to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf area to support a multinational force in a standoff with Iraq.

*Missouri*'s
 scheduled four-month Western Pacific port-to-port cruise set to begin
in September was canceled just a few days before the ship was to leave.
She had been placed on hold in anticipation of being mobilized as forces
 continued to mass in the Middle East. *Missouri* departed on 13
November 1990 for the troubled waters of the Persian Gulf. She departed
from Pier 6 at Long Beach, with extensive press coverage, and headed for
 Hawaii and the Philippines for more work-ups en route to the Persian Gulf. Along the way she made stops at Subic Bay and Pattaya Beach, Thailand, before transiting the Strait of Hormuz on 3 January 1991. During subsequent operations leading up to Operation Desert Storm, *Missouri* prepared to launch Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) and provide naval gunfire support as required.[5]

*Missouri* launches a Tomahawk missile.

*Missouri* 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.[5]

On 29 January, the *Oliver Hazard Perry*-class frigate *Curts* led *Missouri* northward, using advanced mine-avoidance sonar. In her first naval gunfire
 support action of Desert Storm she shelled an Iraqi command and control
 bunker near the Saudi border, the first time her 16 in (410 mm) guns
had been fired in combat since March 1953 off Korea.[30]
 The battleship bombarded Iraqi beach defenses in occupied Kuwait on the
 night of 3 February, firing 112 16 in (410 mm) rounds over the next
three days until relieved by *Wisconsin*. *Missouri* then fired another 60 rounds off Khafji on 11–12 February before steaming north to Faylaka Island. After minesweepers cleared a lane through Iraqi defenses, *Missouri* fired 133 rounds during four shore bombardment missions as part of the amphibious landing feint against the Kuwaiti shore line the morning of 23 February.[5] The heavy pounding attracted Iraqi attention; in response to the battleship’s artillery strike, the Iraqis fired two HY-2 Silkworm missiles at the battleship, one of which missed,.[31] The other missile was intercepted by a GWS-30 Sea Dart missile launched from the British air defence destroyer HMS *Gloucester*[5] within 90 seconds and crashed into the sea roughly 700 yd (640 m) in front of *Missouri*.[32]

*Missouri* firing her 16-inch guns during Desert Storm, 6 February 1991.

During the campaign, *Missouri* was involved in a friendly fire incident with the *Oliver Hazard Perry*-class frigate *Jarrett*. According to the official report, on 25 February, *Jarrett*'s Phalanx CIWS engaged the chaff fired by *Missouri* as a countermeasure against enemy missiles, and stray rounds from the firing struck *Missouri*, one penetrating through a bulkhead
 and becoming embedded in an interior passageway of the ship. Another
round struck the ship on the forward funnel, passing completely through
it. One sailor aboard *Missouri* was struck in the neck by flying
shrapnel and suffered minor injuries. Those familiar with the incident
are skeptical of this account, however, as *Jarrett* was reportedly
 over 2 mi (3.2 km) away at the time and the characteristics of chaff
are such that a Phalanx would not normally regard it as a threat and
engage it.[33] There is no dispute that the rounds that struck *Missouri* did come from *Jarrett*, and that it was an accident. The suspicion is that a Phalanx operator on *Jarrett* may have accidentally fired off a few rounds manually, although there is no evidence to support this.[34][35]

During the operation, *Missouri* also assisted coalition forces engaged in clearing Iraqi naval mines in the Persian Gulf. By the time the war ended, *Missouri* had destroyed at least 15 naval mines.[32]

With combat operations out of range of the battleship’s weapons on 26 February, *Missouri* had fired a total 783 rounds of 16 in (410 mm) shells and launched 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles during the campaign,[36]
 and commenced to conduct patrol and armistice enforcement operations in
 the northern Persian Gulf until sailing for home on 21 March. Following
 stops at Fremantle and Hobart, Australia, the warship visited Pearl
Harbor before arriving home in April. She spent the remainder of the
year conducting type training and other local operations, the latter
including 7 December "voyage of remembrance" to mark the 50th
anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. During that ceremony, *Missouri* hosted President George H. W. Bush, the first such presidential visit for the warship since Harry S. Truman boarded the battleship in September 1947.[5]

## Museum ship (1998 to present)

See also: Iowa-class battleship § Cultural significance

*Missouri* in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; aft deck and 16-inch (410 mm) gun turret

With the collapse of the Soviet Union
 in the early 1990s and the absence of a perceived threat to the United
States came drastic 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 result, *Missouri* was decommissioned on 31 March 1992 at Long Beach, California.[1] Her last commanding officer, Captain Albert L. Kaiss, wrote in the ship's final Plan of the Day:

*Missouri* facing the sunken *Arizona*.

*Missouri* returned to be part of the reserve fleet at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, until 12 January 1995, when she was struck from the Naval 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 U.S. Navy wanted
to pair a symbol of the end of World War II with one representing its
beginning.[37] On 4 May 1998, Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton signed the donation contract that transferred her to the nonprofit USS *Missouri* Memorial Association (MMA) of Honolulu, Hawaii. She was towed from Bremerton on 23 May to Astoria, Oregon, where she sat in fresh water at the mouth of the Columbia River to kill and drop the saltwater barnacles and sea grasses that had grown on her hull in Bremerton,[32] then towed across the eastern Pacific, and docked at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor on 22 June, just 500 yd (460 m) from the *Arizona* Memorial.[25] Less than a year later, on 29 January 1999, *Missouri* was opened as a museum operated by the MMA.

Plaque commemorating the surrender of Japan to end World War II

Originally, the decision to move *Missouri* to Pearl Harbor was met with some resistance. The National Park Service
 expressed concern that the battleship, whose name has become synonymous
 with the end of World War II, would overshadow the battleship *Arizona*,
 whose dramatic explosion and subsequent sinking on 7 December 1941 has
since become synonymous with the attack on Pearl Harbor.[38] To help guard against this impression *Missouri* was placed well back from and facing the *Arizona* Memorial, so that those participating in military ceremonies on *Missouri*'s aft decks would not have sight of the *Arizona* Memorial. The decision to have *Missouri*'s bow face the *Arizona* Memorial was intended to convey that *Missouri* watches over the remains of *Arizona* so that those interred within *Arizona*'s hull may rest in peace.[39]

*Missouri* was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 14 May 1971 for hosting the signing of the instrument of Japanese surrender that ended World War II.[38] She is not eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark because she was extensively modernized in the years following the surrender.[39]

On 14 October 2009, *Missouri* was moved from her berthing station on Battleship Row to a drydock at the Pearl 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.[40]
 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.[41]