This book presents the reader with a very novel approach to naval history. The author, a global academic, is openly obsessed with the “Mighty Mo”, the US Navy's Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri. Apart from Missouri's overall power and magnificence as one of the world’s most important warships, the author's father served aboard the ship as a very junior ensign in 1946.
Her father’s brief experience was on a very successful “diplomatic cruise” to Turkey. However, starting with Missouri’s useful bombardment activities in the southern Japanese islands, soon followed by its very important and probably best known role as the venue for the Japanese unconditional surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945, the author detailed a lengthy list of both diplomatic and warlike activities carried out by the ship during its half-century active career.
Missouri finally served in the first Gulf War in 1991 when, even in the missile age, her battery of 16-inch guns proved useful and terrifying. She continues to earn her keep, 84 years on, as a very well-preserved museum ship, open to all, in Pearl Harbor.
Other important warships that have, and sometimes still do, performed diplomatic duties are mentioned. USS Constitution and Nelson's HMS Victory are just two of them, and American nuclear-powered aircraft carriers currently perform such tasks very effectively and impressively. While focused on and very much a tribute to Missouri, the book speaks well for the largely ignored diplomatic utility of current and future large warships.
This is a beautifully written and well-presented book in the usual Naval Institute Press style.
Author: Nancy Snow
Available from The Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, USA