Battleship "Missouri" - the owner of the Pacific Ocean
Despite the fact that the war battleships have already gone farin the past, we continue to admire these steel handsome men who for a long time were nicknamed "the owners of the seas". Appearing in the second half of the XIX century, these iron monsters for several decades in a row inspired fear and awe. One of the last such ships, which left a notable mark in naval history, was the battleship "Missouri".
This giant was laid on one of the New Yorkshipyards at the beginning of the terrible 1941 year, and launched in January 1944. Already during the construction of the battleship project has undergone very significant changes, which is due to the specifics of the conduct of hostilities by the German and Japanese aircraft. In particular, considerable attention was paid to the protection of ammunition and tower guns, which was associated with a very real threat from German and Japanese aircraft. The maximum thickness of the armor of the ship reached one and a half thousand millimeters, which made it virtually invulnerable.
The battleship "Missouri" had a powerful fist,the basis of which was three 16-inch guns. Neither before nor after, no United States warship possessed such weapons. In addition, the ship carried twenty twenty-five mm guns and 100 antiaircraft guns to protect against air attacks. The maximum speed of the ship was 35 knots, which made it one of the fastest in its class.
The battleship "Missouri" performed well not only in collision with Japanese ships and aircraft, but also in storming ground fortifications.
The battleship "Missouri" entered the world history notonly with his military exploits, amazing technical characteristics, but also with the fact that it was on his board that the last page of this monstrous catastrophe was turned. September 2, 1945, it was here that the Japan Capitulation Act was signed, which was accepted by the US commander-in-chief D. McCarthour.
The battles of World War II proved thatperiod they were the ones who determined the main directions of confrontations on the ocean expanses. However, as time went on, the role of ships of this type gradually decreased. Many of them ended their days in the docks, being cut into separate pieces. In this regard, our hero was lucky: despite his advanced age, he happened to participate in several companies. In particular, in 1991 the battleship "Missouri" was one of the few battleships from which rockets were produced during the bombing of Iraq. Completing his military duty to the end, the proud conqueror of the ocean spaces took a deserved rest. Now their watch in the seas and oceans is carried entirely by other ships, but without the experience of their heroic ancestors, there would not be today a navy.
