Born in the midst of world war, USS MISSOURI (BB-63), one of four completed Iowa-class battleships, and the fourth ship named for the "Show Me" state, was launched on January 29, 1944, and went on to participate in critical operations during the final months of World War II, including the Allied invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the Allied advance on the Japanese home islands.

Following capitulation by Japan, the last of the Axis powers, USS MISSOURI was the site for the formal signing of the "Instrument of Surrender" on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay by representatives of Japan and the Allied Nations — thus ending World War II.

While still renowned today as the site where World War II ended, Battleship Missouri has a much broader story to tell.

During the post-war years, MISSOURI participated in training cruises for naval midshipman and other peacetime operations.

Then, on June 25, 1950, North Korean forces suddenly invaded South Korea and MISSOURI was urgently called to duty once again. Steaming to the cold waters off the Korean coast, MISSOURI provided ongoing gunfire support for U.N. forces ashore, serving two rigorous combat tours between 1950 and 1953.

Her service complete, MISSOURI was decommissioned on February 26, 1955, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where she would remain for the next 30 years.

Finally in spring 1984, with tensions rising in the Middle East, MISSOURI was called back to duty, modernized and readied for a new chapter of service to the nation.

Recommissioned in San Francisco on May 10, 1986, MISSOURI commenced a historic world cruise, reflecting that of President Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet of 80 years prior.

A year later, MISSOURI was readied for action, participating in Operation Ernest Will, an Allied escort of oil tankers through the dangerous waters of the North Arabian Sea.

Then, in the early hours of January 17, 1991, Battleship Missouri was on station, unleashing her Tomahawk missiles against Iraqi forces as Operation Desert Storm commenced, later firing her massive 16-inch guns in anger for the first time since the Korean War.

Returning home to a heroes welcome, MISSOURI later returned to Pearl Harbor to join in the historic commemoration marking the 50th anniversary of the December 7, 1941, attack on the Hawaiian Islands.

Finally on March 31, 1992, the battleship sailors, officers and U.S. Marines of the USS MISSOURI departed their ship for the last time as the "Mighty Mo" was once again decommissioned — the last American battleship to be decommissioned — and reentered the reserve fleet.

In 1994, the newly formed USS Missouri Memorial Association, Inc. embarked on a four-year odyssey to make Pearl Harbor the permanent home for the Mighty Mo. On May 4, 1998, the Navy officially granted the battleship's care to the association. Six weeks later, on Father's Day, June 21, 1998, the Missouri received a hero's welcome as she passed the shores of Waikiki. The following day she first took her current post where she proudly stands watch over the hallowed waters of Pearl Harbor.

Today, the Battleship Missouri Memorial stands proudly as a fitting memorial to the people and historic events reflecting our nation’s legacy of duty, honor, strength, resolve and sacrifice.