USS Missouri hosted the formal signing of Japan’s surrender on 2 September 1945.
The American Iowa-class battleship was anchored in Tokyo Bay when Japanese and Allied representatives gathered on its deck. The ceremony began shortly after 9 a.m. Japan Standard Time and ended at about 9:25 a.m. The signed document, called the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, formally ended hostilities between Japan and the Allied powers.
General Douglas MacArthur presided as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijirō Umezu signed for Japan, followed by representatives of the United States and eight other Allied nations.
The choice of the Missouri gave the ceremony a highly visible naval setting near Japan’s capital. The ship later became a museum and memorial vessel at Pearl Harbor. The surrender ceremony is often confused with Hirohito’s radio announcement, but the broadcast occurred more than two weeks earlier.