The launch of a legend took place at the New York Naval Shipyard on Jan. 29, 1944 when at 1:05 p.m.
Missouri BB-63 slid down the ways in front of 26,000 people. The ceremony lasted only fifteen minuets, not
much time to celebrate during a war. The brief ceremony was the cumulating of 3,300,000 man days it took
to build the ship, which was launched nine months ahead of schedule.

She was sponsored by Miss Margaret Truman, daughter of Senator (later President) Harry S. Truman. In his
speech he said "May this great 'show-me' ship named for the great 'show-me' state be an avenger to the
barbarians who wantonly slaughtered the heroes of Bataan."

Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. sent the following message to the workers who built the great ship;

" We have a date to keep in Tokyo. And all our people ask the opportunity to slug it out with the Japs. Ships
like the Missouri will prove the wallop to flatten Tojo and his crew."

The surrender of the Japanese Empire was signed on her decks ending World War 2. She went on to become
one of the longest serving battleships in the U.S. Navy and is now a floating museum, a tribute to those who
built her and those who fought on her.