Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945.
The ceremony took place on the battleship’s deck on September 2, 1945. USS Missouri was a United States Navy Iowa-class battleship, commissioned earlier that year and later famous as the site where World War II formally ended.
The ship was anchored in Tokyo Bay, close to Japan’s capital. Allied and Japanese representatives gathered there because the vessel provided a secure, highly visible location for the international ceremony. General Douglas MacArthur presided as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
The ship’s name is sometimes confused with USS Iowa or other American battleships that served in the Pacific. Missouri, however, was the specific vessel chosen for the signing. It later became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where visitors can see the surrender-deck area and a replica of the document.