The FReeper Foxhole Revisits - USS Missouri & USS Arizona Memorial with CholeraJoe - Sept. 2nd, 2005

see educational sources | originally posted at the Foxhole Feb. 29th, 2004 | Cholera Joe and others

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

USS Missouri joins Arizona on 'Battleship Row'


New home for 'Mighty Mo'

March 7 1999

HONOLULU -- The USS Arizona -- sitting solitary, silent and hallowed on Battleship Row for almost 60 years -- is not alone anymore.



The battered ship, resting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor, has become a national symbol, the sunken memorial to the Americans who died during the Japanese attack on Oahu and Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. It is the most sacred U.S. Navy monument on Earth, the final grave for the 1,177 sailors and Marines who perished aboard during the attack.



Now, anchored near the Arizona is the USS Missouri, the second most-famous battleship of World War II, official designation BB-63.

Like the Arizona, the Missouri sits next to a pier at Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor. For the "Mighty Mo" -- the ship's famous nickname -- a berth in Pearl Harbor marks the end of an illustrious career that spanned more than a half-century and service in three wars.



Today, the Missouri's huge 16-inch guns are silent, pointing symbolically toward the Arizona. It is poetic that these two U.S. warships should end up next to each other. The Arizona was sunk at the beginning of the U.S.-Japanese conflict, and it was aboard the Missouri that the Japanese signed the formal surrender ending World War II four years later.



On Jan. 29, in ceremonies aboard ship, the Missouri was officially opened to the public as a floating museum -- 55 years to the day after it was launched. Along with the Arizona and the other Navy relic of the war anchored at Pearl Harbor -- the submarine Bowfin -- the Missouri is fated to become part of one of the major tourist attractions in Hawaii.



It was a long voyage from Brooklyn, where the Missouri was built, to Pearl Harbor, half an Earth away. The Mighty Mo was the last battleship launched by the United States, entering service in 1944. It was christened by Margaret Truman, the daughter of the newly elected vice president, Harry Truman, a former U.S. senator from Missouri. After going through the Panama Canal to the Pacific, it was involved in the invasions of Okinawa and Iwo Jima and attacks on the Japanese homeland.



On Sept. 2, 1945, a month after the U.S. atomic attacks at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Japanese formally surrendered aboard the Missouri. The site of that ceremony -- now called the "Surrender Deck" -- is marked by permanent plaques and is a major stop on public tours of the ship. (An elevator has been installed to allow wheelchair access to the Surrender Deck and other areas of the ship.)



The end of World War II also saw the end of the "Battleship Age" and the beginning of the "Carrier Age," meaning the demise of most of the Navy's battleships.

Most were scrapped, a few were mothballed, some were used as targets for U.S. atomic tests. Among those saved -- just in case of future need -- were the Missouri and its sister ships -- the New Jersey, the Iowa and the Wisconsin.

By 1950, the Missouri was the only U.S. battleship on active duty, and in September of that year was involved in the invasion of Inchon at the beginning of the Korean War. Later, the other three Iowa-class ships were also called back for the war.



In 1955, the Missouri was decommissioned and put into the mothball fleet at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Wash. While there, it was visited by as many as 180,000 tourists a year.

There it sat until 1986, when the Navy (and President Ronald Reagan) decided to create a 600-ship navy and recommissioned the Missouri and several other battleships. The recommissioning ceremonies took place in San Francisco on May 10, 1986.

San Francisco desperately wanted the Missouri home-ported at Hunters Point, but in the end, the ship ended up at Long Beach.

In 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the Missouri -- along with the Wisconsin -- was sent to the Persian Gulf. Near the beginning of the hostilities -- Jan. 17, 1991 -- the Missouri fired Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraqi targets, and in February, fired its 16-inch guns for the first time since Korea.



The Mighty Mo fired its weapons in anger for the last time at targets in Ra's al Khafji, Saudi Arabia, occupied by the Iraqis. The ship fired 209 rounds from its 16-inch guns, which are capable of sending a 2,000-pound shell 23 miles.

The Missouri was decommissioned again in 1992. A number of U.S. cities wanted to claim the battleship, but in the end, the Navy donated it to the USS Missouri Memorial Association in Honolulu in 1998.

There has been some resistance to putting the Missouri near the Arizona, with some veterans and Navy personnel feeling that the Arizona, as a sacred site, should not share honors on Battleship Row with another ship, no matter how famous. (The name "Battleship Row" came about because the Navy's World War II Pacific-based battleships were normally lined up in rows along Ford Island -- where the Japanese found them tightly packed during the attack.)



The Missouri sits about 300 yards from the Arizona. The Navy has given permission for the ship to remain there for three years, when it will be moved to another spot farther away, but still next to Ford Island.

The official Navy position is more congenial, noting that the Missouri, in conjunction with the Bowfin and the Arizona, is part of a rich historical experience.

For their part, Missouri supporters are hoping that in the end, given what is expected to be intense public interest, the Navy will leave the Missouri where it is.



"Look at the big guns," Tom Pinet, the Missouri's tour program manager, said. "The way they point, they're symbolically protecting the Arizona. The last thing we want in the world is to turn this into Disneyland. We all respect the Arizona."

The U.S. Park Service, which is in charge of the Arizona Memorial, is upbeat about the Missouri's arrival.

In a news release issued before the opening ceremonies, the Park Service noted that "each of the three (ships) are coming together to service a single critical purpose -- to sustain the rich history of this very special place -- the living history of Pearl Harbor."

Copyright © 2004, Knight-Ridder/Tribune (KRT)

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[Valin]

There's a lesson in there somewhere, I'm just not sure what it is.

[Wneighbor]

And didn't stop or at least call!

And Valin, I don't even know if I was in your state! But, I do know I went through states inhabited by Freeper Friends and didn't have a clue how to tell them I was there. :-) I coulda waved out my window at Radu I think - but didn't know when. :-)

[Wneighbor]

I just checked your home page.... LOL... wasn't even close to you Valin. I mostly stayed south. ~sigh~ You know us hard-headed southerners. My cousin asked me when we were in Ohio, "What route would you like to take back to Arizona?" I said, the southern route.

What're ya gonna do with us? We're just terrified of temps under 70 degrees. :-) Guess the Porsche 911 will just have to be auctioned off. ~sigh~ And I couldn't treated it real nice. :-)

[Diver Dave]

Hey wait just a minute there Dave, you don't even look that old!

I'm not. Someone musta made adjustments to the calendar over the years. :)

On my last birthday, my sil called and asked, "So, how old are you now?"

"Real".

[Valin]

70! That's just about the perfect temp.
This woman I work with complains all winter "I'm cold....."
Hello! It's Mn....it's Jan....it SUPPOSED to be cold, the interstate goes south and there are no border check points on the Iowa border.

[Wneighbor]

ROFL

We are obviously kindred spirits in our thoughts about our states! I get real sick of hearing about how hot it is here in Texas! LOL.... I lived most of the years of my adulthood here without airconditioning and liked it just fine. Far as I'm concerned 90 is about the perfect temp... when it gets to triple digits you will find me in the pool a lot... but not complaining about the heat! Anybody that wants to complain about the heat has plenty of other options! Most of 'em north of Texas! :-)

[Wneighbor]

1973 J R R Tolkien, British story writer (Farmer Giles of Ham)

Hmmm.... that's all this guy wrote right?

[Peanut Gallery]

Hi there! How are you?

[Peanut Gallery]

tap tap tap...hello? This thing on?

you just called me.

[USMCBOMBGUY]

Good Morning everyone,

My first reenlistment was done on the Arizona memorial.

I will be going out to Hawaii at the end of the month and look forward to going to see the Missouri. I will be sure to bring back some more pictures for you.

[colorado tanker]

It's a shame a city as pretty and pleasant as San Francisco is so screwed up. It's one of the world's great sites for a city.

[colorado tanker]

Nice thread. It's great to see the Mo and Arizona paired together again on Battleship Row. They're the bookends of the War.

TGIF!

[Graybeard58]

Glad to learn that you are still above ground. I was begining to wonder.

In your travels did you pass through Illinois?

I just arrived about an hour ago in Fairfield, Ohio to visit with Mrs. Graybeard, who is here on bidness. It's near Cinncinati. I do not like her lap top keyboard, it's too quite. I like to make racket when I type!

Gas is $3.19 here, about the same as it is at home.

A little excitement in my neighborhood last week:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1470453/posts

Good luck on your job search. E.

[Wneighbor]

Howdy Ms.D!!! Nice to hear from you again. I'm just fine here. Got back in last night. Doing laundry, relaxing and cooking spaghetti for supper tonight. Just trying to relax and enjoy being back "home."

[snippy_about_it]

I will be sure to bring back some more pictures for you.

Wonderful, thanks.

[Wneighbor]

Howdy!!!

Got caught up with real life at home for quite a while here. Nice to hear from you!

Nope, I didn't get to Illinois. If I'd have gotten there you probably would have heard from me because I do still have your number in my phone. :-) Of course, I probably couldn't have stopped - but I'd have let you know if I was in the neighborhood!

Heh, laughing at your not hearing the Mrs. keyboard! I get some criticism because I hit the keys so hard when I type that it makes noise even on these quiet keyboards. I think it's because I learned to type on one of those archaic "manual typewriters." LOL.... Remember typewriters? Remember the kind that weren't even electric? Heh, I still hit the keys hard enough to whack those characters right up to the carriage!

I don't know how much gas is here yet!!!! Haven't been home long enough to drive. I know that diesel is $2.54. yikes.

[snippy_about_it]

Hiya ct.

[Valin]

I think he may have written one or two other tales, I'll have to check with google in the morning to find out.

[Iris7]

An earlier USS Missouri.

[Professional Engineer]

1973 J R R Tolkien, British story writer (Farmer Giles of Ham)

Hmmm.... that's all this guy wrote right?

Hmm, Token, isn't that used to play a game or something?