Japan’s surrender documents were signed aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
Missouri was an Iowa-class battleship commissioned by the United States Navy in 1944. Its large deck provided space for Japanese representatives and Allied commanders during the carefully planned ceremony.
The ship was anchored in Tokyo Bay among a large Allied fleet. General Douglas MacArthur presided, while Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu signed for Japan.
The ceremony aboard Missouri marked the formal end of hostilities, although Japan had announced its acceptance of the Allied terms weeks earlier. The ship remains preserved as a museum at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.