Missouri at Sea: Warships with Show-Me State Names (MISSOURI HERITAGE READERS)

Although the state of Missouri is located hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, ships with Missouri names and connections have served the United States for decades. In Missouri at Sea, Richard Schroeder tells about the ships that were named after the state, its cities, and its favorite sons and explores the important role that each has played in American history.

            For each vessel, a brief history is supplied, and the book is illustrated with many extraordinary images and photographs taken from official U.S. government records and archives. Schroeder begins his volume with the first St. Louis and other small early ships that were symbolic of America’s modest nineteenth-century commercial and political ambitions. The first Missouri, one of the earliest American steamships, depicts the United States’ move into the industrial and technological revolution of the nineteenth century.

            Another Federal St. Louis and a Confederate Missouri highlight the Mississippi River Civil War campaign. Schroeder then turns to America’s rise as a global military power at the beginning of the twentieth century with stories of the St. Louis in the Spanish-American War and the first battleship Missouri of Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet. The dominance of the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Pacific theater is illustrated by the fourth and most famous of all the ships to bear the name Missouri, whose deck was the site for the Japanese surrender.

            The advanced technological achievements of the mid-twentieth century are represented by the nuclear submarines named for one of Missouri’s favorite sons and for its capital: Daniel Boone and Jefferson City. Also highlighted in the volume is the 5,000-crew nuclear aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, along with smaller ships named for Missouri war heroes. Missouri at Sea will appeal to those readers interested in naval history and technology or Missouri history.