A Timeless Ritual: Ex-USS Missouri (BB-63) Emerges from Dry Dock 4 at Pearl Harbor

In January 2010, a remarkable scene played out at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard—a moment thick with both the hum of modern industry and the echoes of living history. As Pacific sunlight danced across the waters, the gates of Dry Dock 4 opened and seawater began to flood the massive chamber. Within, resting on her temporary cradles, was the legendary battleship ex-USS Missouri (BB-63), poised to float free once more.

The Queen in Repose

USS Missouri—affectionately known as “Mighty Mo”—is a symbol woven deep in the fabric of American naval tradition. Commissioned in 1944, she earned fame as the site of Japan’s formal surrender in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II. After decades of service through WWII, Korea, and Operation Desert Storm, Missouri was decommissioned and moved to Pearl Harbor, her final berth, where she serves as a living museum and a link to the past.

But even legends require care—and after nearly two decades exposed to sun and sea as a memorial, Missouri needed her below-the-waterline strength restored. Thus, in October 2009 she entered Dry Dock 4, to undergo the first comprehensive maintenance since arriving in Hawaii.

Dry Dock: Where Ships Are Reborn

A dry dock is a marvel of naval engineering—a watertight basin where massive ships can be repaired or overhauled with precision and safety. For months, Missouri rested high and dry as shipyard workers inspected, cleaned, resealed, and painted her hull. Decades’ worth of marine growth were scraped away, steel was repaired and preserved, new coatings were applied to fend off the ceaseless assault of saltwater. Stanchions, props, hull plates, rudder, and propellers—all were painstakingly attended to, restoring the ship for generations to come.

The Drama of Flooding and Floating

Come January 2010, the shipyard orchestrated the undocking—a process that is both technical and ceremonial. As pumps roared and sluices opened, cool Pacific seawater surged through the dry dock’s massive gates, filling the enclosure around Missouri’s steel hull. There’s a breathtaking suspense as the water rises, caressing the ship once again, until buoyancy returns and she floats free above her keel blocks.

For the Missouri, this was not a return to war, but a rebirth as a national treasure. Shipyard engineers, dock masters, and dedicated volunteers stood watch, ensuring everything progressed with safety and precision. Slowly, the workers guided Mighty Mo back into her element, the timeless ceremony a blend of science, tradition, and almost reverence.

A Living Link at Pearl Harbor

The spectacle of the undocking was more than an engineering milestone—it was a moment of connection. As seawater flooded Dry Dock 4, the Missouri bridged the past with the present, surrounded by the very harbor where the Pacific War erupted, now peacefully bustling with tours and schoolchildren eager to walk her storied decks.

For some onlookers, the scene echoed another era, when Pearl Harbor’s docks teamed with warships and urgent repairs. For many more, it was a powerful reminder that the duty to remember, preserve, and honor never grows old—even as the battleship herself enters new chapters of peacetime service.

Missouri’s Ongoing Voyage

After her time in dry dock, with hull renewed and colors bright, ex-USS Missouri returned to her prominent moorings on Ford Island, just steps from the USS Arizona Memorial. There, she continues her vital mission: not as a ship of war, but as a classroom, a solemn monument, and an invitation for all to discover the living history of America’s Navy.

As the waters of Pearl Harbor once again embraced the Missouri in January 2010, they did so not as the tides of war, but as keepers of memory—ensuring Mighty Mo will inspire awe, reflection, and pride for generations yet to come.