Meet USS Missouri: The Largest US Navy Battleship Ever

[Boats]

Meet USS Missouri: The Largest US Navy Battleship Ever
By: Peter Suciu - 1945 News - 02-17-22
Re: https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/02/...ttleship-ever/

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Image of Iowa-class battleship compared to Montana-class battleship that was never built. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

USS Missouri was part of the Iowa-class, the largest US Navy battleships ever built. And she made a lot of history–and music videos: While her sister ship, USS Wisconsin (BB-64), had a higher hull number, the United States Navy’s Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) was the last big gun warship to enter service. However, two additional Iowa-class vessels had been planned, while the Navy also sought to introduce the even larger Montana-class. As priorities shifted to the Essex-class aircraft carrier, no Montana-class keels were laid, and the “Mighty Mo” proved to be the end of the line for battleships with the U.S. Navy.

During the Second World War, the vessel saw action in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and also took part in the shelling of the Japanese home island. It was on September 2, 1945 that the official Surrender Ceremony took place on USS Missouri, bringing an end to the war. It lasted a mere 23 minutes, beginning with a brief opening speech by General Douglas MacArthur.

President Harry S. Truman, a native of the state of Missouri, had reportedly insisted the ceremony be held on BB-63

The last of the U.S. Navy’s battleships saw service in the Korean War and was decommissioned in 1955, only to be returned to service in 1984. She provided naval surface fire support (NSFS) during Operation Desert Storm during the January and February 1991 invasion of Iraq. Over the course of her total service in the United States Navy, USS Missouri earned a total of 11 battle stars and was decommissioned for a final time on March 31st, 1992.

USS Missouri: A Movie Star of Sorts

USS Missouri is the primary setting of the 1992 action film Under Siege starring Steven Segal. However, while secondary footage of the battleship was used – including those of the warship at sea, at Pearl Harbor and San Francisco Bay – most of the filming was actually conducted on the South Dakota-class USS Alabama (BB-60), another World War II-era battleship that had been preserved as a museum ship in Mobile Bay, Alabama.

Yet, USS Missouri did play a role in several other productions, including the film Pearl Harbor, where she stood in for USS Arizona (BB-39) during the attack on December 7, 1941. The warship was also prominently featured in the 2012 sci-fi film Battleship, which was based on the popular board game.

As the warship hadn’t sailed under her own power since arriving in Pearl Harbor in 1992, tugboats were reportedly used to make it look like she was sailing on her own.

The most infamous appearance of USS Missouri wasn’t 1992’s Under Siege, but rather she was used as a filming location for the music video for Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” in 1989. It seems there were some U.S. Navy officials who wishes they could turn back time after seeing the video, in which Cher was shaking her stuff in a one-piece bathing suit and stockings that left little to the imagination, while in another sequence she could be seen straddling the barrel of one of USS Missouri’s 16-inch main guns.

The resulting video was such that the Navy has banned all future music videos from being filmed onboard any active ships. Even worse for Cher, who seemed to be happy with the video, it was initially banned by MTV and later only played after 9 pm.

Video link: https://youtu.be/taM7k2QhJe8 (Cher)

About this writer: Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes Magazine.

In this article:Battleship Missouri, Battleships, Cher, NotHome, US Navy, USS Missouri, World War II