On this date in 1945, Japanese 'diplomats' arrived aboard the Battleship Missouri to sign the surrender documents ending WWII
Here are the wretched little scumbags begging for their lives after kicking up a shitstorm in the Pacific that led to the deaths of millions and millions of people. We shoulda wiped the fuckers off the map when we had the chance.
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The battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) stands moored to a pier at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Missouri is in Hawaii to take part in the observance of the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
This is the Missouri.
One badass Battleship.
(BB-63: displacement 45,000; length 887'3"; beam 108'2"; draft 28'11"; speed 33 knots; complement 1,921; armament 9 16-inch, 20 5-inch, 80 40 millimeter, 49 20 millimeter; class Iowa)
The third Missouri (BB-63) was laid down on 6 January 1941 at Brooklyn, N.Y., by the New York Navy Yard; launched on 29 January 1944; sponsored by Miss Margaret Truman, daughter of then-Senator from Missouri Harry S Truman; and commissioned on 11 June 1944, Capt. William M. Callaghan in command.
After trials off New York and shakedown and battle practice in Chesapeake Bay, Missouri departed Norfolk on 11 November 1944, transited the Panama Canal on 18 November and steamed to San Francisco for final fitting out as fleet flagship. She stood out of San Francisco Bay on 14 December and arrived at Ulithi, Western Caroline Islands, on 13 January 1945. There she was temporary headquarters ship for Vice Adm. Marc A. Mitscher. The battleship put to sea on 27 January to serve in the screen of the Lexington (CV-16) carrier task group of Vice Adm. Mitscher's Task Force (TF) 58, and on 16 February her flattops launched the first air strikes against Japan since the Halsey-Doolittle raid launched from the carrier Hornet (CV-8) in April 1942.
Missouri then steamed with the carriers to Iwo Jima where her 16-inch guns provided direct and continuous support to the invasion landings begun on 19 February 1945. After TF 58 returned to Ulithi on 5 March, Missouriwas assigned to the Yorktown (CV-10) carrier task group. On 14 March Missouri departed Ulithi in the screen of the fast carriers and steamed to the Japanese mainland. During strikes against targets along the coast of the Inland Sea of Japan beginning on 18 March, Missouri helped splash four Japanese aircraft.
Raids against airfields and naval bases near the Inland Sea and southwestern Honshu continued, provoking a savage response by Japanese aircraft. While carrier Wasp (CV-18), crashed by an enemy suicide plane on 19 March 1945, resumed flight operations within an hour, a separate attack penetrated Franklin (CV-13)'s hangar deck with two bombs, setting off explosions that left the warship dead in the water a mere 50 miles of the Japanese mainland. Heavy cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-72) took Franklin in tow until she gained speed to 14 knots. Missouri's carrier task group provided cover for Franklin's retirement toward Ulithi until 22 March, then set course for pre-invasion strikes and bombardment of Okinawa.
Missouri joined the fast battleships of TF 58 in bombarding the southeast coast of Okinawa on 24 March 1945, an action intended to draw enemy strength from the west coast beaches that would be the actual site of invasion landings. Missouri rejoined the screen of the carriers as USMC and U.S. Army troops landed on the morning of 1 April. Following a sortie by a Japanese surface force led by battleship Yamato, carrier aircraft sank Yamato, a cruiser and four destroyers. Four remaining destroyers, sole survivors of the attacking fleet, damaged, retired to Sasebo.
On 11 April 1945, Missouri opened fire on a low flying suicide plane that penetrated the curtain of her shells to crash just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the plane was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at 5 inch mount No. 3. Yet the battleship suffered only superficial damage, and the fire was brought quickly under control.
About 2305 on 17 April 1945, Missouri detected an enemy submarine 12 miles from her formation. Her report set off a hunter killer operation by small carrier Bataan (CVL-29) and four destroyers that hunted down and sank Japanese submarine I 56.
Missouri was detached from the carrier task force off Okinawa 5 May 1945 and sailed for Ulithi. During the Okinawa campaign she had shot down five enemy planes, assisted in the destruction of six others, and scored one probable kill. She helped repel 12 daylight attacks of enemy raiders and fought off four night attacks on her carrier task group. Her shore bombardment destroyed several gun emplacements and many other military, governmental, and industrial structures.
Missouri arrived Ulithi on 9 May 1945 and thence proceeded to Apra Harbor, Guam, on 18 May. That afternoon Adm. William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander 3d Fleet, broke his flag in Missouri. She passed out of the harbor 21 May, and by 27 May was again conducting shore bombardment against Japanese positions on Okinawa. Missouri now led the 3d Fleet in strikes on airfields and installations on Kyushu on 2 and 3 June, then rode out a typhoon on 5 and 6 June that wrenched off the bow of heavy cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-72). Some topside fittings were smashed, but Missouri suffered no major damage. Her task force again struck Kyushu 8 June, then hit hard in a coordinated air surface bombardment before retiring towards Leyte. She reached San Pedro, Leyte, on 13 June, after almost three months of continuous operations in support of the Okinawa campaign.
There, she prepared to lead the 3d Fleet in strikes at the heart of Japan from within its home waters. The task force set a northerly course on 8 July 1945 to approach the Japanese mainland. Raids took Tokyo by surprise 10 July, followed by more devastation at the Juncture of Honshu and Hokkaido 13 and 14 July. For the first time, a naval gunfire force wrought destruction on a major installation within the home islands when Missouri closed the shore to join in a bombardment 15 July that damaged the Nihon Steel Co. and the Wanishi Ironworks at Muroran, Hokkaido.
During the night of 17 18 July 1945, Missouri bombarded industrial targets in the Hichiti area, Honshu. Inland Sea aerial strikes continued through 25 July, and Missouri guarded the carriers as they struck hard blows at the Japanese capital. Strikes on Hokkaido and northern Honshu resumed on 9 August, the day the second atomic bomb was dropped. Next day, at 2054, Missouri's men were electrified by the unofficial news that Japan was ready to surrender, provided that the Emperor's prerogatives as a sovereign ruler were not compromised. Not until 0745 on 15 August, was word received that President Truman had announced Japan's acceptance of unconditional surrender.
Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser, RN (Commander, British Pacific Fleet) boarded Missouri on 16 August 1945, and conferred the order Knight of the British Empire upon Adm. Halsey. Missouri then transferred a landing party of 200 officers and men to battleship Iowa for temporary duty with the initial occupation force for Tokyo 21 August. Missouri herself entered Tokyo Bay early 29 August to prepare for the normal surrender ceremony.
High ranking military officials of all the Allied Powers were received on board 2 September 1945. Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz came on board shortly after 0800, and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (Supreme Commander for the Allies) came on board at 0843. The Japanese representatives, headed by Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru, arrived at 0856. At 0902 General MacArthur stepped before a battery of microphones and the 23 minute surrender ceremony was broadcast to the waiting world. By 0930 the Japanese emissaries had departed.
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