Did Mighty Mo still retain her 20mm Oerlikons during and after the Korean War or were they all removed?
Go to NAVSOURCE.ORG and check the extensive photo archive of the Missouri. There are a couple of grainy photos (bow and stern) dated as April 1951 that appear to show 20’s. There are some groups of 4 medium-sized sticks which are the quad 40’s and some single smaller sticks that are the 20’s. There is a good bow shot which does not show any guns in the big bow tub.
It’s a mixed bag story
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“US Battleships – an Illustrated Design History” by Norman Friedman states that in 1951 the Missouri had only 32 twin 20mm mounts. In October the authorized battery was no 20mm mounts and all were removed by the end of the year. He states that in late 1945 the authorized battery was 8 twin mounts and 32 single mounts. Four quad 40mm mounts had been removed but were reinstalled during the Korean war refit. The catapults had also been removed during the refit.
Bob
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