Updated January 29th, 2021 at 15:03 IST

World’s greatest warship USS Missouri (BB-63) was launched on this day in 1944; Read more

USS Missouri (BB-63), which was the world’s greatest warship and the last battleship commissioned by the US, was launched today, i.e., January 29, in 1944.

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USS Missouri (BB-63), which was the world’s greatest warship and the last battleship commissioned by the US, was launched today, i.e., January 29, in 1944. Missouri was ordered in 1940 and she is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan, which ended World War II. She fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands. Missouri (BB-63) also fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 after which she was decommissioned in 1955 into the US Navy reserve fleets, but reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

USS Missouri (BB-63) was the third ship of the US Navy to be named after the US state of Missouri. She received a total of 11 battle stars for service in WWII, Korea, and the Persian Gulf. She was decommissioned in 1992 after serving a total of 17 years of active service. However, she still remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in 1995. In the following years, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.

(Image: @niloc14061952/Twitter)

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Design on Missouri (BB-63)

Missouri was 887 feet 3 inches long overall and had a beam of 108 feet 2 inches and a draft of 36 feet 2.25 inches. She was powered by four General Electric steam turbines, each driving one screw propeller, using steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Missouri had a cruising range of 15,000 nautical miles at a speed of 15 knots. Her crew numbered 117 officers and 1,804 enlisted men.

The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 16in/50 calibres Mark 7 guns. She had guns in three triple-gun turrets on the centreline, two of which were placed in super firing pair forward, with the third aft. The ship was also equipped with an anti-aircraft battery of eighty 40 mm guns and forty-nine 20 mm auto-cannon.

(Image: @jianxuchina/Twitter)

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Missouri was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 14 May 1971 for hosting the signing of the instrument of the Japanese surrender that ended World War II. She was also central to the plot of the film ‘Under Siege’. The ship was prominently featured in another movie, ‘Battleship’. Moreover, the music video of Cher’s ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ was also filmed aboard Missouri. The US Navy had granted permission to shoot the video, however, they were unhappy with the nature of the performance.