The 1945 formal surrender of Japan was signed aboard the U.S. battleship USS Missouri.
The ceremony took place on 2 September 1945 in Tokyo Bay, shortly after 9 a.m. Japan Standard Time. Japanese representatives signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, formally ending hostilities with the Allied powers in World War II. The Missouri had entered service in 1944 and was one of the Iowa-class fast battleships.
The ship was chosen partly because it was the flagship of Admiral William F. Halsey’s Third Fleet and because its location in Tokyo Bay provided a highly visible setting for the ceremony. General Douglas MacArthur presided as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, while representatives from Japan and nine Allied governments signed the document.
A common mix-up is confusing the surrender announcement of 15 August with the formal signing on 2 September. The announcement came by radio from Emperor Hirohito; the legal ceremony occurred aboard Missouri weeks later. The battleship is now preserved as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.