Nearly 5,500 gallons of Sherwin-Williams coatings have been applied to the historic Battleship Missouri, which recently returned to her home pier near the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The ex-USS Missouri, or Mighty Mo, is known as the site of Japan’s unconditional surrender to Allied Forces on September 2, 1945, ending World War II. The ship was launched in June 1944 and provided firepower in the decisive battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On Sept. 2, 1945 – 65 years ago this summer – the Missouri served as the site of Japan’s formal, unconditional surrender to Allied Powers while anchored in Tokyo Bay, Japan.
The famous ship also saw action in the Korean Conflict and Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm. Today, the ship is under the care of the non-profit USS Missouri Memorial Association, which owns and operates the ship as the Battleship Missouri Memorial, a historic attraction and memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Work on the $18m refurbishment began in October under the guidance of BAE Systems at the U.S. Navy’s Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. The superstructure was pressure washed by memorial volunteers. BAE Systems and its subcontractors used power tools to remove remaining paint, spot-primed bare steel, airless-sprayed the ship’s superstructure and freeboard, and plural component-sprayed the underwater hull.