Missouri’s berth was given significant consideration before finally being selected. They didn’t want her to overshadow Arizona, but wanted her close.
In addition to the symbolism of the beginning and the end of the war. Part of the reason for her bow facing Arizona is to give the impression that Missouri is standing watch over the grave of the men that died on Arizona, or were later interred with their shipmates.
Her bow facing Arizona also had the intent of separating any ceremonies on the stern of Missouri from Arizona as to not disturb the memorial.
When I visited it, I had been noticing the retrofits that had been tacked onto her for the more modern weapons. Lots of exposed cable harness and so on. I had been thinking it was a kind of haphazard so I asked a docent about its service in the 80's and 90's and if sailors felt slighted having to serve on her instead of a modern ship.
He looked at me for a time and with an arm, gestured to the active ships on the other side of harbor and said "See those ships? Every person over there would gladly, immediately give up their career to serve on this ship"
IIRC the actual table used for the document signing is lost to history. The Powers That Be tried to keep track of it, but the deckhands had it stowed before they could get to it.
Edit: Because it was stored with multiple similar ones, they couldn't figure out which was The One.
![image showing USS Missouri: You can see where WWII ended for the world, overlooking where it began for the US [OC]](413c35c5-1623-59f1-b4b8-0b60ffaa5228.jpg)
twitchx133 on July 14th, 2025 at 22:45 UTC »
Missouri’s berth was given significant consideration before finally being selected. They didn’t want her to overshadow Arizona, but wanted her close.
In addition to the symbolism of the beginning and the end of the war. Part of the reason for her bow facing Arizona is to give the impression that Missouri is standing watch over the grave of the men that died on Arizona, or were later interred with their shipmates.
Her bow facing Arizona also had the intent of separating any ceremonies on the stern of Missouri from Arizona as to not disturb the memorial.
SecretOrganization60 on July 15th, 2025 at 00:53 UTC »
When I visited it, I had been noticing the retrofits that had been tacked onto her for the more modern weapons. Lots of exposed cable harness and so on. I had been thinking it was a kind of haphazard so I asked a docent about its service in the 80's and 90's and if sailors felt slighted having to serve on her instead of a modern ship.
He looked at me for a time and with an arm, gestured to the active ships on the other side of harbor and said "See those ships? Every person over there would gladly, immediately give up their career to serve on this ship"
Oro_Outcast on July 15th, 2025 at 02:35 UTC »
IIRC the actual table used for the document signing is lost to history. The Powers That Be tried to keep track of it, but the deckhands had it stowed before they could get to it.
Edit: Because it was stored with multiple similar ones, they couldn't figure out which was The One.