The Battleship Missouri

Last on my list today was this mighty battleship - seen from the Arizona memorial it doesn’t look to big… but a short shuttle bus ride later I get a close up view of her - she is massive, I mean MASSIVE (the size of a 12 story building and the length of 6 football pitches!!). Standing beside her I feel insignificant like a grain of sand on the beach…
Included in the price of the ticket is a tour of the deck of the Missouri undertaken by a retired volunteer (paid for through the ticket cost and donations). I found this superb - the knowledge of our guide was exceptional and he brought every aspect of the ship fully to life from the 16” rifles (with there 2800lb shells) to the teak decking. Did you know for example that the shells could be fired at targets 25miles away with precision and that they had been used during the gulf war? (25 miles is further than you can see with the naked eye due to the curvature of the Earth!!) When the rifles were fired they had to be fired broadside as if they had been fired forwards or aft they would have damaged the ships decking - even broadside the blast wave actually boils the sea water!! 0_0 while all the crew must be below decks to avoid the effects of the concussion wave… Whoa… and to think that these mighty guns where employed against the Iraqi army in operation Desert Storm, an impressive account of how the technology of the early 20th Century could still be employed in the modern theatre of conflict - although updated with Gatling cannons (that look like R2-D2), modern computing and of course a load of cruise missiles!! Now however, Mighty Mo rests in Battleship Row, Pearl Harbour - an antique, mothballed into the role of tourist attraction and stewarded over by enthusiastic volunteers. A glorious and iconic ship saved in part due to the fact that WWII officially ended on her deck as the Japanese surrendered to General MacArthur. Wonderful tour.