Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The shipshape deck of the USS Bowfin submarine.
USSMissouriMemorial On the deck of this 58,000-ton battleship (the last one the navy built),
World War II came to an end with the signing of the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.
The Missouri was part of the force that carried out bombing raids over Tokyo and provided
firepower in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In 1955, the navy decommissioned the ship
and placed it in mothballs at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, in Washington State. But the
Missouri was modernized and called back into action in 1986, eventually being deployed in
the Persian Gulf War, before retiring once again in 1992. Here it sat until another battle en-
sued, this time over who would get the right to keep this living legend. Hawaii won that battle
and brought the ship to Pearl Harbor in 1998. The 887-foot ship is now open to visitors as a
museum memorial.
If you have the time, take the 1-hour tour, which begins at the visitor center. Guests are
shuttled to Ford Island on military-style buses while listening to a 1940s-style radio program
(complete with news clips, wartime commercials, and music). Once on the ship, guests watch
an informational film and are then free to explore on their own or take a guided tour. High-
lights of this massive (more than 200-ft. tall) battleship include the forecastle (or fo'c's'le, in
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