Trumpeter 06748 USS Missouri BB-63 1/700 scale. The box contains plastic kit to assemble, does not contain glue or paints. USS Missouri (BB-63) was an American battleship laid down in 1941, launched in January 1944, and commissioned into the United States Navy in June 1944. The length of the ship was 270.4 m, the beam was 33 m, and the its displacement at full capacity - at the time of launch - 58,400 tons. The maximum speed of the battleship USS Missouri was up to 33 knots. The main armament at launch was 9 406 mm guns in three turrets of three guns each, and the secondary armament was mainly 20 127 mm guns. USS Missouri was the third of six Iowa-class battleships ordered. As it turned out, with the failure of the Montana-class battleship construction program, the Iowa-class battleships were the last to be launched for the US Navy. Because they were built without any financial or displacement limitations, they also proved to be the most technologically advanced American battleships of World War II. From the beginning, they were built as key transport ships for aircraft carriers and placed great emphasis on high top speed, which made the Iowa-class battleships much faster than any other American battleships. They also had carefully crafted armor and a new 406mm Mk. VII with increased effective shot range. USS Missouri (BB-63) began its participation in World War II in December 1944, ferrying from Atlantic ports to Hawaii. As early as January 1945, it supported the US Marines on Iwo-Jima with its artillery. In March of this year, USS Missouri acted as a shield ship for a carrier squadron that attacked targets on Japanese islands with their aircraft on board. In April it supported activities in the Okinawa region. The battleship completed its operations in the Second World War very gloriously and representatively: it was on board that the representatives of Japan signed the act of unconditional surrender of their country on September 2, 1945. The ship also took an active part in the Korean War (1950-1953). In 1956, however, it was placed in reserve. In the 1980s it returned to scheduled service, after having undergone a profound modernization. It involved the installation of modern electronics and fire control systems, as well as the installation of Tomahawk and Harpoon rocket launchers and Phalanx anti-aircraft systems. The battleship was also adapted to homing on-board helicopters. The modernized ship took an active part in the protection of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region in 1987, in the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war. It returned to these waters in 1990 to take an active part in Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991) launching rockets and ship-borne artillery against targets in Iraq. Finally, in 1992, the ship was decommissioned. Currently, it serves as a museum ship in Hawaii.
