USS Missouri (BB-63)

Missouri on the high seas after its last modernization around 1990
Overview
Order	June 12, 1940
Keel laying	January 6, 1941
Launch	January 29, 1944
1. Period of service
Commissioning	June 11, 1944
Decommissioning	March 31, 1992
Whereabouts	Museum ship
Technical specifications
displacement	approx. 45,000  ts (standard); approx. 57,500 ts (fully loaded)
length	270.43 meters
width	32.98 meters
Draft	11.6 meters
crew	Between 1,500 and 2,800
drive	8 steam boilers, 4 steam turbines, 4 propellers with 212,000  shaft horsepower (158  MW )
speed	33 knots
Armament	Originally 3 × triple towers 40.6 cm, 10 × twin mounts 12.7 cm, flak. Later partially replaced by 32 cruise missiles and 16 anti-ship missiles.

The USS Missouri (BB-63) (nickname "Mighty Mo") is a former battleship of the United States Navy and belongs to the Iowa class . It entered service in 1944 and took part in the Pacific War from 1945 . On September 2, 1945, history was made on the Missouri when the political and military representatives of Japan surrendered on the foredeck and the Second World War came to an end. From 1950 the battleship drove missions in the Korean War and was then assigned to the reserve fleet. It remained there until 1984 and was then, heavily modernized, used in the Second Gulf War.

Today the Missouri lies in Pearl Harbor ( Hawaii ) and can be viewed there as a museum ship .

technology

→ Main article : Iowa class

The Missouri's two starboard propellers in dry dock in 1989

The Missouri is of the Iowa class. This class of ship was around 270 meters long and 33 meters wide. These dimensions were chosen according to the Panamax specification so that such battleships could fit into the locks of the Panama Canal and thus switch quickly between the Pacific and Atlantic. The displacement of the Missouri corresponded only on paper to the upper limit of 45,000 ts set at the London Naval Conference  of 1936 . When fully loaded, it was actually around 58,000 ts. The Missouri was propelled by four propellers , each of which received its energy from a high-pressure and a low - pressure steam turbine . At 33 knots, the Iowa-class ships were the fastest battleships ever. This was bought, however, with the waiver of further expansion of the armor compared to the previous class , which other navies, however, preferred.

The main artillery of the Missouri consisted of nine guns of the caliber 16 inches (40.6 cm), which were combined in two triple turrets on the forecastle and another on the stern . With a range of up to 40 kilometers, these weapons could be used against sea and land targets. In addition, the Missouri initially had five multi-purpose twin guns of 5 inches (12.7 cm) and numerous smaller anti-aircraft guns of 40 and 20 mm caliber on each side of the superstructure . Since these had already proven to be inefficient against rapidly approaching enemy aircraft due to their short range and penetration power during World War II, this secondary armament was removed over the years. During the 1984 modernization, the Missouri received several types of guided missiles: 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles in eight Armored Box Launchers , 16 AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and four Phalanx CIWS short-range defense systems , which were distributed around the superstructure. The two aircraft on board had already been replaced by helicopters after the Second World War .

history

Planning and construction

Margaret Truman and her father with two Navy admirals at the ship's christening

The planning for the ships of the Iowa class began in 1938, the Missouri was laid down as the third of six units; only the first four were actually completed. The ship was commissioned on June 12, 1940, on January 9, 1941 the keel was laid at the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn , New York City . After almost exactly three years of construction, the ship was launched on January 29, 1944. The traditional ship christening for the battleship was carried out as godmother Margaret Truman, the daughter of the then US Senator for the state of Missouri and later President Harry S. Truman . After the launch, the final equipment at the pier and the first test drives followed.

On June 11, 1944, the Missouri was officially put into service with the US Navy. She was the last battleship that went to the United States fleet, since the fourth ship of the Iowa- class, the Wisconsin , required less construction time and was completed by April. Plans for the successor units of the Montana class were never implemented.

The Missouri spent the summer and fall of 1944 doing test and practice drives off New York and the Chesapeake Bay from Naval Station Norfolk , Virginia . On November 11th these were completed, and the ship was ordered through the Panama Canal to San Francisco , where some additional work took place, mainly dealing with furnishing the premises for flag officers .

First period of service (1944–1955)

Second World War

Battleship Missouri in the Pacific in early 1945

In December 1944 the Missouri left San Francisco and drove via Pearl Harbor to Ulithi on the Carolines . There she was assigned to the fifth fleet, more precisely to Task Force 58 under the command of Vice Admiral Marc Andrew Mitscher . Mitscher temporarily set his flag on the Missouri , thus selecting it as the flagship and leading the combat group from there. On January 27, 1945, the battleship left port as escort of the naval aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) . Subsequently, the Missouri shelled the Pacific Island during the Battle of Iwojima in preparation for the invasion by US Marines . At the beginning of March the TF 58 returned to Ulithi.

The Missouri was then assigned to the carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) , which it protected from air attacks, while US carrier aircraft attacked Japan. On March 19, the carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) was badly damaged during these attacks . The USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) , a Baltimore- class cruiser , took the carrier in tow and the combat group around Yorktown and Missouri covered the voyage as far as Ulithi. From March 24th, the Missouri was involved in the shelling of the Okinawa coast during the Battle of Okinawa along with several other battleships in preparation for the invasion. After the start of the landings, the Missouri was reassigned to the aircraft carriers of the task force. In the days that followed, the Missouri and five other battleships present barely escaped a battle against an opponent who was equal, if not superior, to the US battleships: The Japanese naval command had the largest battleship in the world, the Yamato , against in a kamikaze action the outnumbered American warships marched off Okinawa. Since the Japanese could only insufficiently protect their ship from air raids, American carrier aircraft managed to sink the Yamato on April 7, 1945 before it reached the American fleet.

Kamikaze attack on the USS Missouri

The Missouri also suffered first direct attacks on April 11th : A kamikaze aviator managed to get behind the curtain of anti-aircraft missiles from the Missouri and rushed onto the ship. The aircraft hit the battleship below the main deck level with the aft turret. Parts of the aircraft and the pilot's body were thrown onto the deck while the explosives in the aircraft did not explode and fell into the sea. The fire kindled by the jet fuel could be extinguished after a few minutes. There were no casualties on the American side, the Japanese pilot died. The commandant of the Missouri , Captain William M. Callaghan, decided to give the kamikaze pilot a burial at sea with military honors , since he had served his country as the crew of the Missouri served theirs. In a second kamikaze attack, the wing of an aircraft brushed the crane for the aircraft pick-up and cut it. The machine then exploded along with its explosives in the stern water of the Missouri . The aircraft debris flew over the entire aft deck up to Tower 3 and wounded some crew members in this area. Six days after the first kamikaze attack, the Missouri crew noticed a Japanese submarine positioning itself twelve miles from the battle group. The notified light aircraft carrier USS Bataan (CVL-29) , in collaboration with four destroyers, chased and sank the submarine. On May 5, the battleship withdrew from Okinawa and returned to Ulithi.

The Missouri was forwarded from Ulithi to Guam on May 18 , where it arrived on the same day. Admiral William F. Halsey , Commander in Chief of the Third Fleet, hoisted his flag on the Missouri and just three days later the battleship left Apra Harbor to resume coastal bombardment in Okinawa Prefecture. For the remainder of May and half of June, she performed operations in the region before retiring to San Pedro , Leyte, Philippines, where she stayed for three weeks.

On July 8, a fleet around the Missouri left port to attack targets on the Japanese main islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō . Attacks on Tokyo began on July 10; the next few days the fleet moved north towards the main island of Hokkaido. In addition to military targets, important industrial complexes were attacked, either by ship artillery or by carrier aircraft. Even after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , the Missouri was in action off the main Japanese islands until President Truman announced on August 15 that Japan had agreed to unconditional surrender. Admiral Halsey was awarded the Order of the British Empire just a day later by the Royal Navy's Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet , Admiral Bruce Fraser , who had just come aboard the Missouri . On August 29, the Missouri entered Tokyo Bay to prepare for the formal signing of the Japanese surrender .

Air and sea parade on the occasion of the surrender celebrations on September 2, 1945

On September 2, high-ranking officers from all Allies came on board to see Japan sign the document of surrender. The foredeck, more precisely the starboard deck area of ​​tower 2, on which the ceremony was to take place, had only been sparsely decorated. In addition to the stars and stripes with its 48 stars at that time, the Japanese delegation was hoisted the historic 31-star US flag, which Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry had wielded when he landed in Tokyo Bay in 1853 when he was opening up Japan to the west forced. This flag was flown in from the Naval Academy Museum especially for the surrender celebrations .

General MacArthur in front of Allied participants in the ceremony, Commodore Perry's flag in the background

General Douglas MacArthur , the commander in chief of the Allied forces in the Pacific region , came on board at 8:43 a.m., the Japanese delegation led by Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru at 8:56 a.m. The ceremony started at 9:02 am and lasted only 23 minutes. In addition to Shigemitsu on behalf of the Japanese emperor , General Umezu Yoshijirō signed for the armed forces of Japan , and on the American side alongside MacArthur also Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz . Signed for the Allies:

- for Great Britain Admiral of the Fleet Bruce Fraser , First Baron Fraser of North Cape
- for the Soviet Union Lieutenant General Kusma Derewjanko
- for France Général d'armée Jacques-Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
- for Australia General Sir Thomas Blamey
- for Canada Colonel Moore Cosgrave
- for the Netherlands Vice-admiraal Conrad EL Helfrich
- for the Republic of China General Hsu Yung-Chang
- for New Zealand Air Vice Marshal Leonard M. Isitt

After the ceremony, the Missouri stayed in Tokyo Bay until September 6th. The day before, Admiral Halsey had left the Missouri and transferred to the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) . After exiting the bay, the Missouri headed east. As part of Operation Magic Carpet , she took soldiers on the way to native waters on Guam and finally reached Pearl Harbor on September 20.

Interwar period

Honorary testimony for the late Turkish ambassador Münir Ertegün

On September 29th, the Missouri left Hawaii and continued eastward. It reentered the Atlantic through the Panama Canal and entered New York on October 23. There, the commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Jonas H. Ingram , set his flag on the battleship before it fired 21  gun salutes for President Truman on Navy Day on October 27 . After that, an overhaul began in the shipyard, New York Naval Shipyard.

After a subsequent test drive off the coast of Cuba, on March 21, 1946 , the Missouri picked up the coffin with the remains of the former Turkish ambassador in Washington, Münir Ertegün , in order to transport it back to his home country on its first voyage to European waters. The Missouri said goodbye to the diplomat during his funeral in Istanbul with 19 gun salutes as a tribute . The battleship then docked in the Greek port of Piraeus near Athens. With this trip, the American government demonstrated its solidarity with the governments of these two countries, which were facing increasing Soviet threats. On the way back there were further port visits in Algeria (Algiers) and Morocco (Tangier). On May 9, the Missouri reached her home port in Norfolk. Later in May, off Puerto Rico, she took part in the first major post-war US military exercise in the Atlantic. There were also various exercises on the US west coast for the rest of 1946.

Missouri ran aground in 1950

On August 30, 1947, the Missouri reached Rio de Janeiro during the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Hemisphere Peace and Security . The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance , the Inter-American counterpart to NATO , was signed at this conference . On September 7, US President Truman came on board with his family and was brought back to the United States from the Missouri . The ship was then overhauled, again in New York, and reassigned to the fleet on March 10, 1948. The Missouri spent the remainder of the spring and summer on test drives and training missions for midshipmen and reserve personnel. In November, a three-week cold weather exercise followed in Davis Street . In January 1949 she was involved in the search for the Star Ariel . In the same year, maneuvers and practice drives were the main tasks. On September 23, 1949, the Missouri began another overhaul, this time in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard . At the time, the Missouri was the only active battleship in the US fleet. Her sister ships were put in reserve in 1948 and 1949, only the Missouri remained in service as a symbol of the war success by order of Truman and against the will of the military leadership around Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson , who wanted to push through budget cuts.

The overhaul was completed on January 17, 1950. On exiting the shipyard, the Missouri ran aground in the shallow waters off Hampton Roads . The impact lifted the ship about two meters out of the water. It sat so deep in the sandbar that ammunition, supplies and fuel had to be brought off board to make it easier to float up at high tide. The liberation operation required several tugs and pontoons as well as a strong tide , which the battleship was finally able to free on February 1, 1950. The ground contact made it necessary to stay in dry dock due to minor damage to the keel and hull. For this, the hull of the sister ship USS Kentucky (BB-66) , which was never completed, had to be floated out of its construction dock at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to clear the dock. In mid-February the Missouri was completely restored.

Korean War

Shelling of North Korean positions near Chong Jin on October 21, 1950

When the Korean War began on June 25, 1950 with the invasion of North Korea into the south of the country , the Missouri was still the only US battleship in service. However, the other three were reactivated from November 1950. In the short term, the US leadership could only send the Missouri . She left her home port of Norfolk on August 19 and moved to the Pacific, where she joined a United Nations fleet west of Kyūshū on September 14 . The next day, the Missouri began shelling targets in Samcheok to distract North Korean troops from landing at Incheon . Until October, the battleship was used both for coastal attacks and as an escort unit for aircraft carriers. Around Christmas 1950, the Missouri covered the withdrawal of the UN troops after the defeat in the battle for the Chosin Reservoir , until well into March, coastal bombardments and carrier operations followed again. The first relocation of the Missouri to the Korean War ended on March 28, 1951 , she returned to Norfolk on April 27, spent the summer training recruits in European waters and docked in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in October, where she ended up January 1952 was overhauled. After test drives and further training drives, the battleship returned to the Norfolk naval shipyard in August in order to be prepared for a second mission off Korea.

It began on September 11, 1952 when she left the shipyard, and on October 17, the Missouri reached the naval port in Yokosuka, Japan . The rest of the year the ship spent with coastal bombardments, which continued until March 25, 1953. In both missions combined, the Missouri fired over 7,000 projectiles from its 16-inch guns. On April 6, the Missouri was replaced by her sister ship USS New Jersey (BB-62) and reached Norfolk on May 4. After further training trips for midshipmen, another overhaul in the Norfolk NSY followed from November 1953 to April 1954. On the practice voyage into the Mediterranean that followed in June, the Missouri sailed for the only time ever together with all of its three sister ships. After her return, the Missouri was relocated to the Pacific to be decommissioned and placed in reserve on the US west coast. The official decommissioning date at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard near Seattle, Washington State was February 26, 1955.

Reserve fleet (1955–1986)

Missouri and New Jersey lay mothballed side by side in 1981

Since then, the Missouri has only been kept to a minimal level in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. By 1958, her three sister ships were also placed in reserve, so that the US fleet no longer had an active battleship for the first time in the 20th century. A hull crew on the ship ensured that the bilge was permanently drained and that other essential work was carried out. In addition, the ship could be used for training reserve personnel. Since the Missouri was assigned the most landside pier, it was also a frequent destination for tourists. According to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships , up to 180,000 visitors a year came to the Surrender Deck . The New Jersey was also relocated to the Puget Sound after its use in the Vietnam War in 1969, so that two of the four Iowas were there in reserve.

Second period of service (1986–1992)

Reinstatement

Missouri during modernization

After Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman under President Ronald Reagan launched the “ Navy of 600 Ships ” program as part of the armament of the US armed forces , all four Iowa battleships were returned to active service in turn . The New Jersey left the Missouri side in 1981; only in 1985, after 30 years in the reserve fleet, did the BB-63 follow. The battleship was towed to the Long Beach Naval Shipyard south of Los Angeles, where it was completely overhauled and modernized. Above all, the work there included retrofitting with guided missiles. The modernization was completed at the beginning of 1986, the first test and practice drives began and were completed in May. The Missouri was officially returned to service on May 10, 1986 , and further exercises followed by August.

On September 10, the modernized Missouri began its maiden voyage with a circumnavigation of the world in order to carry out a demonstration of the capabilities of the re-commissioned battleships as part of inaugural visits to several ports around the globe. The journey initially took the Missouri via Hawaii to Sydney, Australia. From there she sailed the Indian Ocean with a stop on Diego Garcia and across the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. There she moored in Istanbul and, after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, in the port of Lisbon. After the transatlantic voyage, the Missouri returned to Long Beach after three months through the Panama Canal. This was the first circumnavigation of the world by a battleship since the famous Great White Fleet sailed from 1907 to 1909.

Persian Gulf

Missouri fires a broadside during RIMPAC 1988

In May 1987, the Missouri was again equipped with small-caliber automatic cannons, whose World War II predecessors had only just been removed during their stay in the shipyard. This secondary armament was required for the battleship's first voyage into the Persian Gulf in order to be able to fight small targets such as speedboats . As part of Operation Earnest Will , the Missouri and its battlegroup Echo had been commissioned to protect Kuwaiti tankers, which had been flagged to the stars and stripes of the United States, from attacks by the Iranians during their passage through the Strait of Hormuz , which made it necessary to supplement their armament. During this time, the Missouri was at sea for over 100 days. After visiting Australia and Hawaii, the Missouri returned to Long Beach on January 19, 1988. After local exercises and maneuvers, she took part in the multinational exercise RIMPAC around the turn of the year 1988/1989 . Finally, between February and June 1989, maintenance was carried out in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. During this time Cher's music video for the song If I Could Turn Back Time was recorded on the deck of the Missouri , with numerous crew members playing as extras.

After the overhaul was over, there was a short training period, followed by participation in the PACEX exercise with Japanese and American units. In 1990 the second RIMPAC maneuver was on the roster. In May, the ship returned to Long Beach and subsequently took part in other maneuvers. In September the Missouri was supposed to go on a four-month voyage to the Western Pacific, but this was canceled due to the invasion of Iraq in Kuwait. Instead, the Missouri was dispatched to the crisis region on November 13th.

Missouri fired a Tomahawk cruise missile on January 17, 1991

Various stopovers were made along the way, including Pearl Harbor and Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines. It was not until January 3, 1991 that the ship entered the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz to intervene in the Second Gulf War . The Missouri launched its first attacks on Iraqi targets on the first day of the war on January 17th. In the next five days, the battleship shot down 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in the Iraqi war zone, and its main guns were also used for coastal bombardments. Since it had to penetrate the heavily mined coastal waters off Iraq and Kuwait, the Missouri was always dependent on escort ships during such missions to search the area for mines. The protection systems against underwater detonations could also protect an Iowa-class ship from sinking, but not from damage, since the armored torpedo bulkheads only protected against the effects of lateral detonations. A mine hit in the area of ​​the unarmored floor of the ship, however, might have forced the operation to be aborted.

The Missouri 1991 in the Persian Gulf

During the Gulf War, the Missouri fired around 750 projectiles from its 16-inch guns, but this fire did not go unanswered by the Iraqi side. On February 25, Coastal Defense Forces fired a Silkworm marine target, the Chinese copy of the Soviet SS-N-2 Styx , at the Missouri battle group . He was getting dangerously close to the Missouri . The US frigate USS Jarrett (FFG-33) did not succeed in intercepting the missile with its Phalanx CIWS , only the British destroyer HMS Gloucester (D96) destroyed the Silkworm around 600 meters from the Missouri with its Sea Dart system . During this attack, the Missouri suffered isolated hits from its own forces : A phalanx burst of fire by the Jarrett was aimed at the Silkworm , but the fire control system was deflected by a chaff ejected by the Missouri . Four to five of the missiles hit the Missouri , but did not cause much damage.

After fighting continued further offshore in late February, the Missouri artillery was unable to intervene. She patrolled the Gulf until March 21, when she was withdrawn. Via Australia she reached Long Beach again on May 13, 1991. From there she attended “ Fleet Week ” in San Francisco that same year and in December received US President George HW Bush on board for the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor . The Missouri began its last long voyage from Hawaii on December 9, 1991. During this time, some film sequences were filmed for the movie Alert: Red . In January 1992, preparations for deactivation finally began, and on March 31, the USS Missouri was finally decommissioned.

Since the final decommissioning (1992 -)

USNS Narragansett (T-ATF-167) towed the battleship back into Puget Sound in April 1992 from the Deactivation Yard in Long Beach . There the Missouri remained part of the reserve fleet until it was removed from the US Navy ship register on January 12, 1995 .

In front the USS Arizona Memorial , behind it the Missouri . On the left the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) with the crew

On May 4, 1998, Secretary of the Navy John Howard Dalton signed the deed of foundation donating the Missouri to a nonprofit organization, the Missouri Memorial Association. The planned to prepare the ship in Pearl Harbor as a museum ship . After the Missouri's hull had been cleaned, the battleship was towed to Hawaii and handed over to the association, which opened it to the public in early 1999. There the battleship lies with the bow facing the USS Arizona (BB-39) , which sank on December 7, 1941, and the USS Arizona Memorial . The organization pays a monthly rental fee of $ 17,300 for this berth.

One of the main attractions for the 400,000 visitors annually is the Surrender Deck , on which a brass plaque commemorates the surrender of Japan. The inscription reads:

USS Missouri

Over this spot on September 2, 1945 the instrument of formal surrender of Japan to the allied powers was signed thus bringing to a close the Second World War. The ship at that time was at anchor in Tokyo Bay.

Latitude 35 ° 21 ′ 17 ″ North. Longitude 139 ° 45 ′ 36 ″ East

USS Missouri

At this point, on September 2, 1945, the document of the formal surrender of Japan to the Allies was signed, bringing the Second World War to an end. The ship was at anchor in Tokyo Bay at the time.

Latitude 35 ° 21 '17 "North. Longitude 139 ° 45 ′ 36 ″ East.

From October 2009, the Missouri was completely overhauled in the dry dock of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard . The entire hull was given a new paint job to prevent rust, and parts of the teak deck were relocated. The overhaul cost around $ 18 million and was completed in early January 2010.

Unlike the other three ships in Pearl Harbor from World War II, in addition to the Arizona also the USS Utah (BB-31) and the USS Bowfin (SS-287) , the Missouri is not a " National Historic Landmark ". Although it would certainly meet the requirement as nationally significant in American history and culture as the last battleship in service in the USA and the place where the Japanese surrender was signed , it missed the other criteria because of its appearance was changed significantly during the renovation in the 1980s. It has only been on the National Register of Historic Places since May 14, 1971 .

She played herself in the feature film Battleship in 2012. The crews of modern destroyers work there with the aged original crew .

literature

• Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Comeback of the IOWA class. The American battleships from 1941 to the present day. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7637-5862-3 .
• Stefan Terzibaschitsch: The last giants of the seas. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7637-5961-1 .
• Stefan Terzibaschitsch: battleships of the US Navy 1941–1981. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-5268-4 .
• Paul Stillwell: Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History. US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD 1995, ISBN 978-1-55750-780-8 .
• Sidney E. Dean: "Mighty Mo" - Last battleship in the US Navy . In: Schiff Classic , magazine for shipping and marine history eV of the DGSM , issue: 6/2020, title topic, pp. 12–23.

Web links

Commons : USS Missouri (BB-63)  - Collection of images

• Missouri in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Missouri on waffenhq.de
• Galleries of the 'Missouri on history.navy.mil (English)
• USS Missouri Memorial (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Press release of the USS Missouri Memorial Association from 2001 ( Memento of April 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
2. ↑ USS Missouri (BB-63) FAQ, Section WWII from factplace.com (English)
3. ↑ Interview with Admiral Stuart S. Murray on ussmissouri.org ( Memento from August 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
4. ↑ USS Missouri: Served in World War II and Korean War , from: The History Net ( Memento from December 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
5. ↑ USS Missouri (BB-63), Grounding, January 1950 in the Online Library of Selected Images of the US Navy (English)
6. ↑ USS Missouri (BB-63) FAQ, Korea War section from factplace.com (English)
7. ↑ Overview of the navy's annual fleet strength ( Memento from December 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ The Online Library of Selected Images also mentions this number
9. ↑ Terzibaschitsch 1997, page 35
10. ↑ Report on the incident on gulflink.osd.mil ( Memento from December 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
11. ↑ Navy Times: Bill would give 'Mighty Mo' a break in rent ( Memento from January 29, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (Engl.)
12. ↑ White House Millennium Council Announces Recipients of "Save America's Treasures" Grants on neh.gov ( Memento from August 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
13. ↑ picture of the badge
14. ↑ Navy Times: USS Missouri heading to shipyard for makeover ( Memento from September 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (Engl.)
15. ↑ Official site about National Historic Landmarks (English)
16. ↑ Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed May 16, 2016

Coordinates: 21 ° 21 ′ 44 "  N , 157 ° 57 ′ 12"  W.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on December 3, 2007 in this version .