Battleship Missouri Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii

One of the great things to see at Pearl Harbor is the USS Missouri which is the very last battleship commissioned by the US Navy. While she was still being built in drydock during the attack that started WWII for the US, the USS Missouri, which is the largest battleship ever built by the US Navy, was the site of the end of WWII for the world when the Japanese surrendered on her deck in August 1945. At Pearl Harbor, she sits bow to bow with the Arizona signifying the beginning and the end of WWII for the US Navy in the Pacific. The juxtaposition of the two ships with their completely opposite experiences is one of the most poignant and photogenic parts of my Pearl Harbor experience. Reflecting on my visit, the USS Missouri is an important if not vital to Pearl Harbor National Historic Site for 2 reasons. First, having the USS Missouri gives you some scale to understand the naval facility and what it looked like with 8 other battleships the day of the attack. Second, it is only appropriate to have a battleship retired at Pearl Harbor as this was the site for the end of the battleship era, not just the US but the world. Pearl Harbor and other WWII sinkings showed navies that investing huge sums in these massive targets was not the best investment. The dawn of the aircraft carrier as the most influential ship had begun. The United States came back off the mat from December 7th to win the war; however, the real loser that day was the battleship, whose relevance was crushingly and decisively ended. As for visiting the Missouri, buy your tickets online before you go as the tickets allow you to see so much more, the aviation and submarine museums. The ticket is not time specific so you really can fit your visit into the Missouri to make the most of your time at Pearl Harbor. However, I would caution you if you visit the USS Missouri before a timed reservation for the USS Arizona as we did, it can take almost an hour to catch a bus at the USS Missouri and get back to the main VC where you board for the USS Arizona, just plan accordingly. When you arrive at the ship, you are free to walk and see what you want to see. You could also book a more in-depth tour or what we did take the free tour that stops at 3 places on the ship to give you details and stories. The first stop is the bow where you can see the USS Arizona Memorial and the big guns of the two forward batteries. The second stop is mid-ship to discuss the surrender spot of the deck of the USS Missouri. The final stop is on the stern to discuss the kamikaze hit on the ship and the moving story of the at sea burial for its pilot. The entire tour takes about 30 minutes, and we waited about 5-7 minutes for it to start. Afterwards, my family did the self-guided tour below decks, and I did the self-guided tour of the bridge and command stations in the tower. From there, we got a pineapple Dole-whip ice cream by the gift shop that was amazing before leaving. I will say when leaving you can visit the USS Oklahoma Memorial that is adjacent to the bus drop off/pick up spot. For me, the USS Missouri is a "Must See" when you are at Pearl Harbor to see what these battleships were like and how big they are. Also, most of Pearl Harbor is rightfully a somber place; however, the USS Missouri is serous but happier place in the National Historic Site. If you are going to Pearl Harbor, make sure you see the USS Missouri.

An excellent guide with wonderful knowledge and very informative. A reminder of the sacrifices made for freedom a must do

The history of what this ship was able to do in the 1940's will be worth the trip alone. You can see the surrender spot and documents on board. The tour guides are great!

This was an amazing visit. This was a very immersive and interactive experience. You can get a guided tour of the Missouri, but we chose to explore it at our own pace. You can walk through the majority of the ship and they have many parts of it set up "as it was" with realistic props. I'm fairly certain they even went as far as adding scents to certain sections of the ship to enhance the atmosphere and make it seem very much like you were traveling back to that time and walking through the ship as it was still in use. There was a small museum of sorts inside of it about Japanese kamikaze pilots that was both heartbreaking and fascinating. This ship is a less somber site at Pearl Harbor than many of the other things you can visit, as it wasn't sunk and was even where World War Il ended. Even with that said, the proper respect and care is given within the ship to those who lost their lives throughout the times this ship was in use. I appreciate that it can be both a celebration of wins, and a memorial for what we, as humans, lose in war. To me, this was well worth the admission price and you can easily spend multiple hours exploring this ship.