USS Missouri (BB-63)

US Navy Ship Wood Blanks are 3/4" x 3/4" Wooden Wave Blanks are pre-tubed blanks with a label cast of the ship's seal and wood from the ship. These blanks are designed to work with Sierra Clone or Bolt Action pen kits. Sierra Clone tubes are 2-1/4" x 27/64" and Bolt Action Tubes are 1-31/32”. All blanks are cut as they are ordered. ------------------------------------------------------------ USS Missouri (BB-63) ("Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo") is an Iowa-class battleship and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan, which ended World War II. Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands, and she fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991. Missouri received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned on 31 March 1992 after serving a total of 17 years of active service, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995. In 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. Namesake: State of Missouri Ordered: 12 June 1940 Builder: Brooklyn Navy Yard Laid down: 6 January 1941 Launched: 29 January 1944 Sponsored by: Mary Margaret Truman Commissioned: 11 June 1944 Decommissioned: 26 February 1955 Recommissioned: 10 May 1986 Decommissioned: 31 March 1992 Struck: 12 January 1995 Identification: Hull symbol: BB-63 Motto: "Strength for Freedom" Nickname(s): "Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo" Honors and awards: 11 battle stars Status: Museum ship in Pearl Harbor Notes: Final battleship to be completed by the United States