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The third US Navy ship to be named after the state, USS Missouri, known colloquially as Mighty Mo, was indeed a powerful vessel, one of four Iowa-class battleships ordered in 1939–40 at a cost of $100 million each. They were designed to travel fast—over 30 knots—and to deliver a payload unequaled by anything afloat. They sported a main battery of nine 16-inch guns that could fi re either explosive or armor-piercing ordnance and had a remarkable range of some 20 miles. These guns, grouped in threes and housed within three turrets, were capable of elevating and firing either individually or as a battery.A smaller battery of five-inch guns had a range of nine miles and were capable of firing both a solid and proximity-fuzed shell. The latter, developed by Johns Hopkins scientists, was designed to explode within close range of attacking enemy aircraft or small maritime craft. Referred to on board as “funny fuses,” they were responsible for a disproportionately high number of enemy kills. They eventually found their way into land engagements, and General George Patton used them to deadly effect against German armored and infantry.The ships also bristled with highly effective 20- and 40-millimeter antiaircraft batteries. There was nothing afloat to equal the firepower of the Iowa-class battlewagons.- Ron Sooldater