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Volunteers Welcome at the Battleship Missouri Memorial

When the Battleship Missouri was in commission, there were 2,500 Sailors maintaining the ship. Today, the Battleship Missouri Memorial has less than 25 ship maintenance staff working on the ship, so volunteers are needed to restore and preserve teak decks, metal decks, bulkheads, displays and equipment.

Volunteer openings are available in these areas as needed:

Teak Crew
	Patching old teak deck Cleaning old teak taken off deck Assisting in take up of old teak deck Treating metal deck Assisting in putting down new teak deck
Cleaning decks and compartments
	Chipping and grinding rust off metal Painting
Pier Facilities
	Assisting Pier Facilities Supervisor Pier maintenance Painting Cleaning
Special Events
	Event set-up (occassional)

 

Note: All volunteers who need a driving pass must go through a US Navy background/security check.

• The USS Missouri is 108 feet 2 inches wide and built to traverse the Panama Canal which is 110 feet wide.
• Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of the then junior Senator Harry S. Truman, christened the USS Missouri on January 29, 1944.
• From its keel to the top of her mast, the USS Missouri is as tall as a 20-story building (209 feet 3 inches tall).
• Theoretical top speed for the USS Missouri is 33 knots or almost 40 miles per hour.
• The USS Missouri has never had a combat death aboard her decks.
• When the family of President Harry S. Truman was on board, they made it a practice to eat at least one meal a day with the crew in the Crew’s Mess.
• The USS Missouri has three gun turrets with three guns each.  The 16-inch guns were the largest ever installed on a Navy ship.
• The USS Missouri’s big guns are aimed based upon the commands of an analog computer first designed in the 1920s.
• Each gun weighs 230,000 pounds, or about as much as a space shuttle.
• Two guns together weigh about as much as a fully loaded Boeing 747.
• Each Navy battleship carried a detachment of Marines on board who were the ran the brig or jail.
• During World War II, the USS Missouri launched spotter seaplanes from two catapults on the stern of the ship.
• The USS Arizona and the USS Missouri are known as the “bookends” of America’s involvement in World War II.
• The USS Missouri now hosts several military ceremonies, including re-enlistments, retirements and change of command.
• The USS Missouri was truly the end of an era. She was the very last battleship of any nation to be decommissioned.
• Each turret of the USS Missouri was manned by 77 to 110 men working in the turret and on five decks below the turret.
• The USS Missouri crew earned three battle stars in World War II and five battle stars in the Korean War.
• Although it looks like one, the USS Missouri is no longer a Navy ship.  It is owned by the USS Missouri Memorial Association.
• The USS Missouri's four engine rooms can generate 212,000 horsepower moving forward and 44,000 going astern.
• Three former American Presidents have boarded the Battleship Missouri: Harry S. Truman, George H. W. Bush Sr. and George W. Bush, Jr.
• The total number of meals served during both active commissioning periods is approximately 40,615,000 meals.