In the year 1992 of this day, the last active US Navy Battleship — USS Missouri (BB-63) was decommissioned for the last time in Long Beach, California.

The BB-63, also known as “Mighty Mo” or “Big Mo” is an American battleship primarily used by the U.S Navy. The Big Mo was the third ship of the U.S Navy named in honor of the U.S state of Missouri. Missouri was noted as the last battleship to be built by the United States and the site of the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII. She was considered as one of the Iowa-class “fast battleship” designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. The Mighty Mo was ordered on June 12 1940. On January 6, 1941, her keel was laid at the New York Navy Yard in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. She was launched on January 29 1944 and commissioned on June 11 of the same year. The ship was the fourth of the Iowa class and the final battleship commissioned by the US Navy. The ship was christened at her launching by Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S. Truman, a former senator from Missouri.

Missouri saw action at the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa, and shelled the Japanese home islands of Hokkaido and Honshu during World War II. Missouri fought in the Korean War, then was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets in 1955. She was recommissioned in the 1980s, and refitted with modern armaments. She also participated in the Gulf War in 1991.