"Great White Fleet" World Cruise,
December 1907 -- February 1909

Atlantic Fleet battleships steaming out of Hampton Roads, Virginia, at the start of their World cruise, 16 December 1907.
The nearest ship is USS Maine (Battleship # 10). Next is USS Missouri (Battleship # 11).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

The USS Missouri was commissioned on December 1903 and decomissioned in September 1919.
It was sold for scrap on January 1922. Admiral H. Kent Hewitt served on this ship while traveling around the world with the Great White Fleet.

Admiral H. Kent Hewitt also served on the USS Missouri which was built and commissioned in 1944 during World War II. As Admiral, he served on this ship when he was head of all naval
forces in the European Theater at the end of World War II in 1946.

The USS Missouri is known as the " Mighty Mo" to many who served on her and was the last of the great battleships to be completed by the US Navy. The USS Missouri received three battle stars for World War II service and five for Korean service.

This famous ship was the first battleship to circumnavigate the world since
President Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" of 1907-1909 and it was on board the deck of the USS Missouri that General Douglas MacArthur and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, along with other US and Allied officers, accepted the unconditional surrender of the Japanese at the end of World War II.