The USS Missouri hosted the September 2, 1945, ceremony that formally ended World War II in the Pacific.
The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on Missouri’s deck in Tokyo Bay. Japanese representatives signed for the government and Imperial General Headquarters, followed by representatives of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Missouri was an Iowa-class battleship commissioned by the United States Navy in June 1944. Its selection gave the ceremony a highly visible setting aboard a major American warship, while the surrounding bay held hundreds of Allied vessels. The ceremony began shortly after 9 a.m. and lasted about 23 minutes.
The ship is sometimes confused with USS Iowa or USS New Jersey because all were famous Iowa-class battleships. Missouri is distinctive in this context because it hosted Japan’s formal surrender and later became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.