The last battleship built by the US Navy, the USS Missouri, or “Mighty Mo” is one of the most storied warships that ever fought in America’s naval fleet.
Billed by the Navy as “the world’s most historic battleship” the 887-foot dreadnought was built at the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn and commissioned in 1944. The Missouri would end up fighting in 3 separate American engagements: WWII at Okinawa & Iwo Jima, as well as the Korean & Gulf Wars. Despite this the USS Missouri may be best known for its role as the battleship where, under the watch of General Douglas Macarthur the Japanese signed their terms of surrender in September 1945, signaling the end of WWII.
Shortly after it was decommissioned following the culmination of the Gulf War, the USS Missouri was sailed to Hawai’i to be moored near the sunken USS Arizona as a non-profit museum and learning center. Its significance is inextricably tied to the USS Arizona– it being sunk in the attack that began the war and the decks of the Missouri where the terms of surrender were signed and the war was officially ended.
Visitors to Pearl Harbor can experience both of these Memorials and tour the area of the “day that will live in infamy” on Polynesian Adventure’s Pearl Harbor Tours.
