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The
Missouri is almost as long as three football fields, has 844
doors, 90 miles of piping, 4,300,000 feet of welding, 1,185,000
rivets, 15,000 valves and 900 electric motors, 852 manholes and
161 hatches. In the design phase over 175 tons of
blueprint paper were used!
The
design of the Missouri consumed over 430,000 man-days and its
construction required over 3,300,000 man-days.
What
does the USS Missouri's designation BB-63 mean? 'BB' stands for
Battleship and '63' means the Missouri is the United States'
63rd battleship.
The Mighty Mo received three
battle stars for World War II service and five battle stars for
Korean War service.
The Missouri carried
approximately 22,000 enlisted men over the entire course of her
naval service.
The Missouri was the last
battleship commissioned by the United States.
President Truman, while sailing
on the Missouri from Rio de Janeiro to Norfolk, Virginia in
September 1948, temporarily lifted the Navy's ban on drinking
hard liquor so he could enjoy his bourbon during the
voyage.
The Missouri's three sets of
16-inch guns could hurl projectiles that are equivalent in
weight to a Volkswagen (2,700 pounds) and accurately hit a
target 23 miles away.
The Missouri's teak deck covers
over 53,000 square feet and cost to replace one teak plank is
$600.
What happened to the remains of
the Japanese Kamikaze pilot who crashed into the Missouri?
A ceremony took place with a burial at sea. Captain
Callahan held this service not to honor the achievements or
values of the pilot but instead to pay tribute to his sense of
honor, his willingness to die in combat and his warrior ethics.
Two months after the war, while
docked at her Hudson River berth in New York City, she was
boarded by 60,000 sightseeing school children in a single
day. The children did so much damage to the ship that she
had to go to the Navy Yard for repairs.
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