The USS Missouri was chosen because she was the latest and greatest battleship. She was barely a year old at the time of the surrender.
USS Missouri was the last battleship commissioned into the United States Navy in the war. She displaced 45,000 tons, carried nine 16”/50 guns in three triple turrets, and could make over 30 knots. Missouri entered service in June 1944 and joined the forward elements of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in January.
She served as part of Task Force 58, the carrier force that constituted the core of U.S. naval power in the last two years of the war. Missouri participated in several operations in the last year of the war, including the bombardments of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Japan. For the rest of the time, she escorted U.S. carrier groups, protecting them from air (and potentially surface) attacks.
The Task Force 58 became Task Force 38 in May 1945 and the USS Missouri became Admiral Halsey’s flagship. It was in this capacity, that of Halsey’s flagship, that Missouri led the Allied armada that entered Tokyo Bay on August 29, 1945.
I looked for any evidence of political motivation since President Truman was from Missouri. I found no evidence that this was a tribute to him or to serve as a reminder to the Japanese who was President.
Source: Brent Cooper (Quora)
