The hull designation identifying the battleship USS Missouri is BB-63.
“BB” indicates a battleship in the U.S. Navy’s classification system, while “63” identifies Missouri as the 63rd battleship numbered in that sequence. The ship was the third Iowa-class battleship completed by the United States.
Missouri was commissioned in June 1944 and joined U.S. naval operations in the Pacific. In 1945, it served as the setting for Japan’s surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, making BB-63 one of the most recognizable hull numbers in naval history.
The ship remained active after World War II, served during the Korean War, and was recommissioned in the 1980s. It was finally decommissioned in 1992 and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.