Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 2, 2005



The USS Missouri is a United States Navy battleship, notable as both the last battleship to be built by the United States, and as the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II. Launched on 29 January 1944, the ship was the fourth and last of the Iowa-class "fast battleship" designs, as well as the final battleship to be commissioned by the Navy. At her launching, the ship was christened by Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S. Truman, then a senator from Missouri. During World War II, the Missouri saw action at the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa, as well as participating in the shelling of the Japanese home islands of Hokkaido and Honshū. In the 1950s, Missouri saw action in the Korean War, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets. She was recommissioned in the 1980s, and refitted with modern armaments. Later, she participated in the Gulf War. Missouri was decommissioned a final time on March 31, 1992, having received a total of eight battle stars, and is presently a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.

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