The USS Missouri hosted the ceremony where Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945.
The American Iowa-class battleship was anchored in Tokyo Bay for the ceremony. General Douglas MacArthur opened the proceedings shortly after 9 a.m., and Japanese representatives signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the ship's deck. The ceremony lasted about 23 minutes and was broadcast internationally.
The Missouri was selected partly because it represented American naval power and because President Harry S. Truman came from Missouri. The ship also carried a historic American flag associated with Commodore Matthew Perry's 1853 expedition to Japan. That flag was displayed during the ceremony, although it was not the flag flown over the White House during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Missouri later served in the Korean War and was recommissioned for the Gulf War. It is preserved today as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, where visitors can see the marked spot of the 1945 signing.