Free Republic

The Battleship Missouri, scene of the Japanese Surrender to U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur on September 2, 1945, is about to get a complete overhaul and makeover. The videos above show the Missouri in action during the First Gulf War in 1991 - blasting away with her big guns. The second video shows the Japanese Surrender on her deck 64 years ago today: "On Sept. 2, 1945, the USS Missouri hosted Japan's surrender in World War II. "I'm proud of it," Art Albert said. Back then Albert was a machinist aboard the vessel. Now he sees rust and faded paint on...

The authorities in Moscow have hastily removed posters congratulating Russian war veterans which mistakenly showed the American warship USS Missouri. The posters were taken down on Wednesday - just hours before Defender of the Motherland Day. The Russian defence ministry said it did not produce the posters. A Moscow city hall official said the design "should have been shown to specialists who can distinguish one battleship from another". A defence ministry spokesman, Vyacheslav Sedov, said "it was a civilian firm that produced the poster, and the people who made it were simply incompetent". "We do have similar ships, beautiful...