USS Missouri, the battleship used for Japan’s 1945 surrender, had the hull number BB-63. The “BB” designation identified it as a battleship, while 63 was its assigned hull number in the U.S. Navy.
Missouri was the fourth and final Iowa-class battleship completed by the United States. It was laid down at the New York Navy Yard, launched in January 1944, and commissioned later that year. By September 1945, it was operating in the Pacific.
The surrender ceremony took place on the ship’s forward deck in Tokyo Bay. The spot is marked today by a plaque, and the vessel remains preserved as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
The nearby numbers can cause confusion because USS Iowa was BB-61, USS New Jersey was BB-62, and USS Wisconsin was BB-64. Missouri’s BB-63 designation uniquely identifies the ship connected with Japan’s formal surrender.