U.S. NAVY BATTLESHIP BB-63 MISSOURI

USS Missouri (BB-63) was an American battleship laid down in 1941, launched in January 1944, and commissioned in the US Navy in June 1944. The length of the ship was 270.4 m, width 33 m, and her full displacement - at the time of launching - 58,400 tons. The top speed of the USS Missouri battleship was up to 33 knots. The main armament at the time of the launch was 9 406 mm guns in three turrets of three guns each, and the secondary armament was mainly 20 127 mm guns. The USS Missouri was the third of the six Iowa-class battleships ordered. As it turned out, with the Montana-class battleship building program failing, the Iowa-class battleships were the last to be launched for the US Navy. As they were built without any financial or displacement limits, they also turned out to be the most technologically advanced American battleships in World War II. From the outset, they were built as key carrier ships for aircraft carriers and placed great emphasis on high top speed, which made Iowa-class battleships much faster than any other American battleships. They also had carefully crafted armor and new 406 mm Mk. VII with a greater range of the effective shot. USS Missouri (BB-63) began its participation in World War II in December 1944, by ferrying from Atlantic ports to Hawaii. As early as January 1945, he supported the US Marines on Iwo-Jima with his artillery. In March this year, the USS Missouri acted as a shield ship for a team of aircraft carriers that attacked targets on the Japanese Islands with their on-board planes. In April, he supported activities in the Okinawa region. The battleship completed its operations in World War II in a very glorious and representative manner - it was on board that the representatives of Japan signed the act of unconditional surrender of their country on September 2, 1945. The ship also took an active part in the Korean War (1950-1953). In 1956, however, he was placed in the reserve. In the 1980s, he returned to line service, having previously undergone a thorough modernization. It involved the installation of modern electronics and fire control systems, as well as the installation of Tomahawk and Harpoon rocket launchers and Phalanx anti-aircraft systems. The battleship was also adapted to the homing of on-board helicopters. The ship modernized in this way took an active part in the protection of tankers in the Persian Gulf region in 1987, in the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war. He returned to these waters in 1990 to take an active part in Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991) firing rockets and on-board artillery at targets in Iraq. Finally, in 1992, the ship was decommissioned. At present, it serves as a museum ship in Hawaii.