Speech of Senator Harry S. Truman at the Launching of the USS Missouri, Brooklyn, New York

SPEFCH OF SENATOR HARRY S. TRUMAN FERELEASE ON DELIVERY TO BF DELIVFRED AT THE LAUNCHING OF THE BATTLESHIP "MISSOURI" ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1944, at 1 PM BROOKLYN NAVY YARD, NTW YORK The launching of the battleship MISSOURI is an event of great national significance. I am deeply conscious of the high honor conferred upon the state I serve in the United States Senate in naming this mighty arm of American naval strength, the MISSOURI. The MISSOURI and her three sister ships, the IOWA, NEW JERSEY, and VISCO'SIN, will be the largest and finest warships in the world, and the armament to be installed in the MISSOURI will make her the most formid- able craft afloat. The christening and launching of this greatest warship of all time illustrates the decisive answer which the democracies of the world are making to the challenge of the aggressor nations. The MISSOURI will be commissioned nine months ahead of schedule. It is such records as this which enabled the Novy to commission 3,500 new vessels in 1943 -- a total greater than all the ships possessed by the Navy at the beginning of that year. This not only replaces all our losres, but vastly increases the fighting strength of our Navy and makes it beyond question master of the seas. At the same time our enemies have suffered disastrous losses in sea power. Germany's vaunted submarine warfare has met its match. Our convoys are getting through -- our ships are delivering the goods. Our own submarines and surface craft are striking ever increasing blows at the Japanese. A third of the Japanese merchant fleet is now on the bottom of the Pacific. So are many of Japan's finest war craft. Japan is straining every effort to replace her losses, but we know, and Jupan knows, that Si TRUMAN NARA