Tag Archives: USS Missouri (BB-63)

The beginning, and the end

A Navy officer views the shrine at the Arizona Memorial, where a marble wall bears the names of 1,177 officers and crew killed on the USS Arizona (BB-39) on 7 December 1941.

(Photo: VA)

A view of the USS Missouri (BB-63), site of the Japanese surrender ceremony in 1945, from the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. To this day, oil can be still seen rising from the wreckage to the surface of the water. The oil seeping is sometimes referred to as “tears of the Arizona” or “black tears.”

(Photo: VA)

90,000 tons of floating hurt

USS Missouri (BB-63) (at left) transferring personnel to USS Iowa (BB-61), while operating off Japan on 20 August 1945

USS Missouri (BB-63) (at left) transferring personnel to USS Iowa (BB-61), while operating off Japan on 20 August 1945. As a young boy in 1984, I  stood by with goosebumps in Pascagoula as the crew manned the rails of Iowa again for the first time since 1958. Both of these classic battle wagons are preserved as museum ships today.

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