Which battleship hosted the signing of Japan’s surrender in World War II?

The battleship USS Missouri hosted the signing of Japan’s surrender on 2 September 1945.

The ceremony was held on Missouri’s deck in Tokyo Bay, where Japanese representatives signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. General Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender for the Allied powers, and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz signed for the United States. Representatives from seven other Allied nations then added their signatures.

Missouri was an Iowa-class battleship commissioned by the United States Navy in 1944. It was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and later became famous as the site where World War II formally ended. The ship’s location also carried symbolic meaning: a historic flag associated with Commodore Matthew Perry’s 1853 expedition to Japan was displayed during the ceremony.

The ship is sometimes confused with USS Iowa or other major American battleships that served in the Pacific. Missouri survived the war and is preserved today as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.