USS Missouri: An Update

My last post was about a new postage stamp celebrating the

commissioning of USS Missouri.  

After the post was up, my friend, Bob LaRoche, wrote and

said, "My dad served on the Missouri during World War II." 

"He was," Bob continued, "on it when Japanese surrendered."

Bob's father, a Seaman First Class, served in Missouri’s fire

control team and "was at the top of the ship, giving

coordinates to the big guns for shore bombardment."

Missouri was built in the US Navy Yard New York, also

known as "The Brooklyn Navy Yard."  In a variation of that

amusement park rule, "you must be this high to take this ride,"

the naval architects who designed Missouri and her sister ship

Iowa. were constrained by the height of the Brooklyn Bridge,

which spanned the East River, between the Navy Yard and

the ocean.

As a work around, the antenna array atop the fire control tower

was hinged so the ship could pass under the bridge.  Of this

design, Bob said, "My dad told me he was up in the tower when

the ship went under the Brooklyn bridge, not much space." "He

was," he continued, "also in the tower when the ship went under

the Golden Gate Bridge, lots of room under that bridge!" 

Bob's father "owns a plank" on the ship and he had a yearbook

covering the years of his service on Missouri.  . 

Bob LaRoche shared this head-on photograph of Missouri from
a copy of the ship's yearbook that his father had.

According to Bill Gicker, my Postal Service contact, when Dan Cosgrove, the stamp's artist, was researching Missouri, he could not find an image of the ship steaming straight on.  Bob found such an image in his father's yearbook and shared it.  In addition to finding an elusive image, Bob's research confirms the accuracy of  Cosgrove's artwork.

If you would like to get copies of this stamp, the stamps still seem to be available at local post offices.