Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History Paul Stillwell, Naval Institute Press, 1996 450 pages. 370 photographs. Drawings. Appendixes. Notes. Index. 8½x11 inches. ISBN 1-55750-780-5

Reviewed by John DiGiantomasso

Few ships receive celebrity status beyond their crews. Some ships, such as the USS Oregon (BB3) receive fame based upon what incredible feats they achieve. Others, such as the HMS Hood, are famous due to their sudden demise. Yet others, such as the USS Arizona (BB39) achieve fame not through what they did, but from their role in shaping public sentiment as well as changing history.

And, on September 2nd, 1945, the USS Arizona was joined by a younger sister in this category - the USS Missouri (BB63) when the Japanese surrendered upon her decks, thus closing World War II. And yet, as significant an event as this was, this represents only one day in the history of a ship that spans more than fifty years. Mr. Stillwell does a remarkable job bringing this history to life by using fascinating stories of minute detail to create an overall history of this amazing ship.

This is by far his largest work on battleships to date. Previous books by Mr. Stillwell include Battleship Arizona, and Battleship New Jersey. In Battleship Arizona, he presents the workings of a World War I battleship, and explores life among the crew between the wars. What I found most fascinating in Battleship Arizona is that the story does not end on December 7th, 1941. Mr. Stillwell documents the efforts to recover the bodies trapped inside, salvage what remained of use on board the Arizona to aid the war effort, and the eventual process that resulted in the creation of a national shrine. Also, the look at the ship as she is today is fascinating.

In Battleship New Jersey (a ship on which Mr. Stillwell served during her Vietnam years) the story of her service in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Lebanon is presented in riveting detail. The unfortunate aspect of this book is that since it was published in 1986, it is in effect incomplete - for it fails to tell the story of the final decommissioning of this historic ship.

However, the full story can be told of the USS Missouri. Mr. Stillwell's book presents a look at the ship from laying of the keel plates in January, 1941 all the way through September, 1995, by which time she was laid up in Bremerton, Washington for the 50th anniversary of the surrender ceremony. And what a story it is. Even if she had not been the surrender ship, the Missouri would still be of great historical significance. And it is presented here in great detail - the story of America's last battleship.

During 1945, the Missouri was busy closing out the Second World War. By the time the Missouri joined the fight, the Japanese Navy had largely ceased to be an effective fighting force. However, there was still fighting in the Philippines, as well as Okinawa and the planned invasion of Japan. During 1945 the Missouri actually shelled the Japanese home islands in anticipation of the invasion that was to be proven unnecessary, and she was attacked by Kamikazes. In April, a Missouri crewman named John C. Truman learned that his uncle had become president of the United States. But the biggest celebrity on board was Admiral William F. Halsey, who chose the Missouri to serve as his flagship.

And then there was the day of days, when the eyes of the entire world were trained upon the decks of the USS Missouri. Mr. Stillwell devotes an entire chapter to this day and the preparations leading up to it. It is fascinating to see some aspects of the surrender ceremony which were planned in excruciating detail, and others which happened entirely by chance. In the latter category include the efforts to locate the actual table used during the surrender ceremony for historic purposes. When a fine table loaned from a Royal Navy ship proved too small, a regular mess table was used instead. After the ceremony, it was decided to save the table and covering cloth for historic purposes. The cloth that covered the table was found tossed against a bulkhead near the surrender site, but the table had vanished. A party went to the mess deck to look for the table where the mess cook was busy preparing to serve lunch. A common mess table, possibly even the correct one, was claimed and is now at the US Naval Academy Museum.

After the ceremony, the Missouri rushed home to be the centerpiece of the Navy Day celebration in New York in October, 1945. Even though a plaque marking the surrender spot on the deck was installed to capture the moment forever, the Missouri continued to add to her history. She carried the body of the Turkish ambassador Munir Ertegun to his homeland, and showed the American flag in the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1947, she carried President Harry Truman and his family from a treaty signing in Brazil back home to Virginia. During that cruise, the famous man from Missouri and his favorite ship became close friends.

In addition to special missions, the Missouri also served as a training ship for the midshipmen of the Naval Academy, as well as Naval Reservists. A fascinating story documents the chance meeting of some midshipmen with Winston Churchill, when the ship visiting Portsmouth.

But if the surrender ceremony was the Missouri's brightest time, then January of 1950 represents the darkest. For at that time, the Missouri was run aground and it took two weeks to finally refloat her. But the black eye of negative publicity was soon overshadowed by the eruption of the Korean War. By June, 1950, the Missouri was the only United States battleship still in commission. All of the other battleships, including Missouri's modern sisters in the Iowa class had all been quickly taken out of service. She stayed in Korea serving as a flagship and providing gunfire support for the troops ashore until her services could be replaced by her newly recommissioned sisters. The Missouri then returned home for more midshipman training before continuing her Korean service.

Two years later, she was decommissioned (the first time for the Missouri) and went into storage in Bremerton, Washington. Mr. Stillwell devotes a chapter to this period of the Missouri's history, something that he did not do when telling the story of the New Jersey in his earlier book.

The next phase in the history of the Missouri is a more cheerful one - her reactivation, and the around the world cruise that followed. The Missouri's visit to Sydney, Australia as scheduled to coincide with the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy. The Missouri stole the show. Mr. Stillwell estimates that a quarter million people showed up on the day for general visiting of the ship. She then sailed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean once again, and made several ports of call before returning through the Panama Canal to Long Beach in time for Christmas. After that, the Missouri joined the fleet once again.

One fascinating aspect of the Missouri story is told in this book as well. Since the Missouri was such a celebrity, she appeared in several productions, including the TV mini-series War and Remembrance, the theatrical release Under Siege, and Cher's music video "If I Could Turn Back Time." So extensive is Mr. Stillwell's coverage of the ships history that all of these are documented in this book.

As the book winds to a close, the history of the Missouri and her role in Desert Storm are documented. Serving there with her sister the USS Wisconsin (BB64), the Missouri fired her guns in anger for the first time in forty years. She also brought her new missile armament to bear, launching the initial strikes of Desert Storm. And the Missouri was under fire again, not from manned kamikaze aircraft, but from Iraqi silkworm missiles. Unlike the kamikaze onslaught, the Missouri was not hit this time.

After Desert Storm, the Missouri was on her way to being decommissioned once again. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Navy budget was subjected to massive cuts - the so called "peace dividend." As a result, the four Iowa class battleships, including the historic Missouri, were all to be decommissioned once again. The Missouri stayed active long enough to once again be the last battleship, and visited Pearl Harbor for the 50th anniversary of the attack that would eventually lead to her greatest fame. After this, she returned to Long Beach, was decommissioned, and then stored in Bremerton, Washington, where she remains to this day. Mr. Stillwell takes us on a tour of the Missouri for one last time, in her inactive state, before closing out the book.

By drawing on interviews with over 100 sailors and officers from the Missouri, Mr. Stillwell has created a riveting account of the history of this fine ship. Heroic efforts of individual sailors are presented, as well as accounts of tragic accidents and human error that truly document the crew that made the Missouri the fine ship that she is known to be. While it appears doubtful that a battleship will ever sail the seas again on active duty (although the Iowas have proven many wrong on that score before), it is still possible to experience life aboard one of these ships thanks to Mr. Stillwell's fine book Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History.

-------- Mr. DiGiantomasso is the ICPA Historian, and is currently writing a book entitled The Road to Iowa: The Story of United States Battleships 1886-1996.