Mighty Mo: The USS Missouri a biography of the last Battleship

by Gordon Newell, Allan E. Smith

Pictorial history of USS Missouri (BB-63). From commissioning mothball fleet.

190 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mighty Mo is part pictorial part history of the USS Missouri. There are interesting parts such as the grounding in 1949 and her role in the mine sweeping of Wonsan Harbor during the Korean War but the rest is an impassioned plea by the authors to make the Missouri a monument. Later the Missouri was recommissioned into the Navy and served in the First Gulf War and then made into a monument. This book is easy to read but obviously a cheerleading piece of why the Missouri should be a monument.

[Herman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read. On account of the pictures and limited text. Still, an interesting story of this mighty ship that was probably obsolete even before it was launched and commissioned in 1944. This was the site of the Japanese and Allies signing the Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945. This also includes history that I'm sure the US Navy would like to forget. This ship grounded itself in the Chesapeake Bay in January 1950. I never learned about this in history class. This was from a high-level perspective; it was written by a retired vice admiral. I wish there were more stories about the enlisted men and details about the ship's quarters. Still, I learned something new from this book.

[John Lomnicki, · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great photographs, good stories (the grounding in Chesapeake Bay), but very little information on construction or crew stories. A very quick read.