Battleship "Missouri" - the owner of the Pacific Ocean

Despite the fact that the battleship war has already gone far into the past, we continue to admire these steel handsome men who for a long time were nicknamed "the owners of the seas". Appearing in the second half of the XIX century, these iron monsters for several decades in a row, inspired fear and awe. One of the last such ships, which left a notable mark in naval history, was the battleship "Missouri".

This giant was laid on one of the New York shipyards at the beginning of the terrible year of 1941, and launched in January 1944. Already during the construction of the battleship project has undergone very significant changes, which is due to the specifics of the conduct of hostilities by the German and Japanese aircraft. In particular, considerable attention was paid to the protection of ammunition and tower guns, which was associated with a very real threat from German and Japanese aircraft. The maximum thickness of the armor of the ship reached one and a half thousand millimeters, which made it almost invulnerable.

The Missouri battleship had a powerful fist, based on three 16-inch cannons. Neither before nor after this, no United States warship possessed such weapons. In addition, the ship carried twenty twenty-five mm guns and 100 antiaircraft guns to protect against air attacks. The maximum speed of the ship was 35 knots, which made it one of the fastest in its class.

The battleship "Missouri" performed well not only in collision with Japanese ships and aircraft, but also in storming ground fortifications.

Thus, the crew of this steel monster covered itself with unfading glory in battles for the islands of Ivo and Okinawa. And with a simultaneous volley of all the guns of the main caliber around the ship and inside it a vacuum bag was formed , so that it was impossible for the sailors and officers to breathe normally for a while.

Battleship "Missouri" entered the world history not only with its military exploits, stunning technical characteristics, but also with the fact that it was on its board that the last page of this monstrous catastrophe was turned. September 2, 1945, it was here that the Japan Capitulation Act was signed, which was adopted by the US commander-in-chief D. McCarthour.

The battles of the Second World War proved that at that time they were the ones who determined the main directions of confrontations in the oceanic expanses. However, as time went on, the role of ships of this type gradually decreased. Many of them ended their days in the docks, being cut into separate pieces. In this regard, our hero was lucky: despite his advanced age, he happened to participate in several companies. In particular, in 1991 the battleship "Missouri" was one of the few battleships from which rockets were produced during the bombing of Iraq. Completing his military duty to the end, the proud conqueror of the ocean spaces went on a deserved rest. Now their watch in the seas and oceans is carried entirely by other ships, but without the experience of their heroic ancestors, there would not be today a navy.