Last month, April 27th, I wrote about the upcoming launch of the fifth USS Missouri, a nuclear-powered attack submarine. At one time, battleships were named after states. Today, they have been replaced by submarines.
The first USS Missouri was a side wheel 10 gun frigate launched in 1841 and was lost in a fire in 1843.
The second USS Missouri was the former Confederate ironclad CSS Missouri, turned over to the US Navy at the end of the war. It proved entirely unsatisfactory and was scrapped. It was built in Shreveport, Louisianan in 1863 and was a casemate ironclad mounting three cannons. It never saw action.
The third USS Missouri was a Maine class battleship, BB 11, launched in 1901. Three crew members won Medals of Honor after a gun flashback in practice that suffocated 36. It was part of the Great White Fleet from 1907-1909 and served in the Atlantic during World War I. It was scrapped in 1922 according to the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.
The fourth USS Missouri was the last battleship built by the United States. Japan surrendered on its deck and it is today a museum in Pearl Harbor, a short distance from the wreck of the USS Arizona,the beginning and end of WW II for the US.
A Proud Tradition. --Cooter
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