Despite the fact that the war battleships already gone far in the past, we continue to admire these beauties steel, have long worn the nickname "masters of the seas."Appearing in the second half of the XIX century, these iron monsters consecutive decades have imposed on others fear and trembling.One of the last of such ships, have left an imprint in naval history, was a battleship "Missouri".
laid this giant was one of New York's shipyards at the beginning of the terrible 1941 and launched in January 1944.Already during the construction project of the battleship has undergone very significant changes, due to the peculiarities of warfare by the German and Japanese aircraft.In particular, considerable attention was paid to the protection of munitions and weapons tower, which was connected with the very real threat posed by German and Japanese aircraft.The maximum thickness of armor ship reached a thousand millimeters, making it virtually invulnerable.
battleship "Missouri" had a powerful fist of fire which is based on three 16-inch caliber guns.Neither before nor after that no warship of the United States did not have such tools.In addition, the ship carried the twenty 25-mm anti-aircraft guns and 100 to protect against air attacks.The maximum vehicle speed of 35 knots, making it one of the fastest in its class.
battleship "Missouri" showed himself not only in the collision with the Japanese ships and aircraft, but also ground-based defenses in the assault.
So, the crew of this steel monster covered itself with undying glory in the battle for the island of Iwo and Okinawa.And while a volley from all of the main fire guns around the ship and formed inside the vacuum bag so that the sailors and officers for some time it was impossible to breathe.
battleship "Missouri" went down in history not only for his military exploits, amazing specifications, but also the fact that it was on board was turned over the last page of this terrible disaster.September 2, 1945 it was here that was signed the capitulation of Japan, which took the American commander in chief D. MacArthur.
Battleships of World War II proved that at that time they determined the main directions of confrontations in the oceans.However, as time went on, the role of the ships of this type gradually decreased.Many of them have ended his days in the dock, being cut into individual pieces.In this regard, our hero was lucky despite his advanced age, he had the opportunity to participate in several companies.In particular, in 1991 the battleship "Missouri" was one of the few ships of the line from which the missiles were produced during the bombing of Iraq.After completing before the end of his military duty, proud conqueror of ocean space left on the deserved rest.Now his watch in the seas and oceans are completely different ships, but without the experience of their heroic ancestors would not have been today the Navy.
