By late February 1991, two of the most legendary battleships in history, USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin, lay just off the Kuwaiti coast. Silent but ready.

After years in mothballs, these ships had re-emerged at the president’s behest, this time as fully modernized war machines, with Tomahawk cruise missiles, advanced radar systems, and even drones now lining their decks.

The anxious Iraqi forces watched these World War 2 Veterans bring the beginning of an amphibious invasion right to their shores. With a single command, Missouri unleashed her firepower, reminding everyone that their most powerful asset needed no update. Her massive 16-inch guns, the same that had hammered enemy fortifications at Iwo Jima, roared to life. 2,700-pound shells tore through the air, crashing into Iraqi defenses along the coast. Moments later, Wisconsin joined the assault, her guns adding to the destruction.

For the Iraqis watching from the shore, the sheer force of the assault of the sister ships was overwhelming.
What they didn’t know was that these 887-foot-long behemoths were just one piece of a much larger, more complex strategy. As the thunderous guns of Missouri and Wisconsin held their attention, elsewhere, unseen and unexpected, the true nature of the coalition’s plan was about to unfold…

Video Transcript:

(00:01) By late February 1991, two of the  most legendary battleships in history,   USS Missouri and USS Wisconsin, lay just  off the Kuwaiti coast. Silent but ready.  After years in mothballs, these ships  had re-emerged at the president’s behest,   this time as fully modernized war machines, with  Tomahawk cruise missiles, advanced radar systems,   and even drones now lining their decks.
(00:31) The anxious Iraqi forces   watched these World War 2 Veterans bring the  beginning of an amphibious invasion right to   their shores. With a single command, Missouri  unleashed her firepower, reminding everyone that   their most powerful asset needed no update.  Her massive 16-inch guns, the same that had   hammered enemy fortifications at Iwo Jima, roared  to life.
(00:54) 2,700-pound shells tore through the air,   crashing into Iraqi defenses along the coast.  Moments later, Wisconsin joined the assault,   her guns adding to the destruction. For the Iraqis watching from the shore,   the sheer force of the assault of  the sister ships was overwhelming.  What they didn’t know was that these 887-foot-long  behemoths were just one piece of a much larger,   more complex strategy.
(01:23) As the thunderous guns  of Missouri and Wisconsin held their attention,   elsewhere, unseen and unexpected, the true nature  of the coalition’s plan was about to unfold… By the late 1980s, despite the Cold War being  in its final stages, global tensions remained   high. As the United States cemented  itself as the dominant global power,   tensions simmered all the way in the Middle East,  where Iraq’s longtime leader Saddam Hussein,   facing crippling debt after years of war  with Iran, decided on a bold solution.
(01:55) On August 2, 1990, Hussein’s forces  invaded Kuwait, rapidly and crushingly   overwhelming the small nation and  seizing control of its vast oil   reserves. The assault gave the dictator immense  amounts of leverage over the global economy,   setting off international outcry, with the United  Nations imposing sanctions only days later.
(02:17) Nonetheless, Saddam still pressed forward. Now,   with diplomacy about to exhaust, the world  realized intervention was inevitable. Unwilling to let such a vital area of the  world fall deep under hostile control,   American President George H. W. Bush rallied an  immense international effort.
(02:36) The leader assembled   a 34-nation military coalition, one of the largest  since World War 2, with well over 800,000 soldiers   from countries like the United Kingdom, France,  Saudi Arabia, and Egypt converging to work as one. That very same August, the United States launched  Operation Desert Shield, a defensive mission with   the ultimate purpose of protecting Saudi Arabia  and its vital oil infrastructure from potential   Iraqi aggression. With this, coalition forces  fortified positions along the Saudi border.
(03:08) This operation bought the coalition  critical time to organize its forces   and prepare to go on the offensive for  their next objective: liberating Kuwait. As Operation Desert Shield unfolded, the UN  issued a blunt ultimatum to Saddam Hussein,   resolution 678, authorizing the  use of force if Iraq failed to   withdraw from occupied Kuwait by January 15, 1991.
(03:34) With the clock now ticking, the coalition  prepared for an all-out assault, a rare   occurrence for the end of the 20th century. This  would be no easy feat. Although Iraq’s armored   forces were substantial, the multinational  group held a clear numerical advantage. Yet,   dislodging the invaders through sheer  force would likely come with heavy losses.
(03:57) In response, General Norman Schwarzkopf,  the commander of coalition forces,   and his team of elite military strategists came  up with a unique three-pronged strategy meant   to outmaneuver Iraq’s defenses through a  masterful blend of force and deception. The first prong involved a direct infantry  assault, engaging Iraqi forces head-on to   pin them down and prevent reinforcement  of other positions.
(04:23) The second prong was   a daring left hook flanking maneuver,  where powerful tanks would sweep across   the Kuwaiti and Iraqi deserts, bypassing  enemy defenses and striking from the west,   severing the invader’s supply  lines and encircling their forces. But for the first two prongs to succeed, the  third, and boldest of them all, had to be   performed flawlessly. The plan called for a staged  amphibious assault on Kuwait’s beaches.
(04:48) This   elaborate ruse would make the enemy believe the  main invasion would surge from the Persian Gulf. Assuming the attack would develop in the water,  top brass would send all the Iraqi defenses and   all their men and materiel there, allowing the  real assaults from the first two prongs to thunder   seamlessly from inland, striking hard from the  south and west, slicing through supply lines,   ensnaring Iraqi forces, and driving  relentlessly toward the capital.
(05:14) In order to sell this important element of their  plan, the coalition needed overwhelming naval   firepower. And nothing was more convincing  than the presence of massive battleships.   As fate would have it, the United States Navy  had just the right ships for the operation. USS Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship,  was commissioned in April 1944 and entered   the Pacific theater that fall.
(05:45) For nearly a  year, she and her men played a key role in   delivering crucial fire support during  bombardments of Japanese-held islands,   escorting carrier strike groups as they launched  air attacks. This was mainly achieved through   her primary weapon system: nine massive  16-inch guns housed in three massive turrets   capable of hurling 2,700-pound shells  up to 23 miles.
(06:06) The ships also carried   an array of 5-inch dual-purpose guns for  anti-aircraft and surface-to-surface weapons. Meanwhile, her sister ship, USS Missouri, was  commissioned a little bit later, in June 1944,   and joined the war too late to make much of  a difference in the already winning tides of   the end-stage Pacific Theater.
(06:29) Beginning in  January 1945, “Mighty Mo” rained artillery   support during the invasions of Iwo  Jima and Okinawa. Most importantly,   she was the center of one of the most  significant moments of the entire war,   when on September 2, 1945, her deck was the site  of the formal surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay,   marking the end of World War 2, and, to  many, the end of the battleship’s golden era.
(06:51) When the Korean War began in 1950, both  sisters answered the call once more,   hammering North Korean defenses and  troop concentrations, targeting supply   lines and key infrastructure.  With a top speed of 33 knots,   these Iowa-class ships could outpace  many contemporaries, seamlessly keeping   up with fast-moving carrier groups and  responding to shifting battle conditions.
(07:14) Yet, despite the Iowa-class ship’s continued  effectiveness and track record, new technology,   spurred by the beginning of the Cold War, rapidly  outmatched these once-dominant battleships,   causing them both to be decommissioned and  placed into the Mothball Fleet in 1955,   where they would lie dormant for decades.
(07:34) By the mid-1980s, naval warfare had  evolved significantly. Nonetheless,   President Ronald Reagan, looking to bolster  America’s naval power with a blend of traditional   strength and cutting-edge technology,  launched the ambitious 600-ship Navy plan,   a massive initiative to expand the U.S. fleet  and reaffirm its maritime dominance.
(07:54) The leader   recognized that in a world where Cold War  boiling points could tip over at any moment,   the massive firepower and imposing  presence of the battleships still   held a powerful strategic and also  symbolic value of American power. With this, all four of the available  Iowa-class battleships were reactivated.
(08:13) However, to accurately face modern  threats, they needed major upgrades. While the battleships retained their iconic guns,   their firepower was vastly expanded with the  integration of 32 Tomahawk cruise missiles,   long-range, precision-guided weapons  that could strike targets deep inland.   A set of Harpoon anti-ship missiles  also bolstered her offensive might.
(08:36) In order to counter modern threats  like incoming missiles and aircraft,   shipyard workers installed the Phalanx Close-In  Weapon System, CIWS, featuring radar-guided   guns. Other critical upgrades included  improvements to radar, fire-control systems,   and electronic warfare capabilities.
(08:57) Now, with their modernization ready,   the two sister ships were ready  to fight side by side once more. Section Break As the January 15 deadline  approached, the two colossal,   887-foot American battleships—USS Wisconsin  and USS Missouri—appeared menacingly off the   Kuwaiti coast. The former had arrived in late  August, followed by the latter in November.
(09:22) As Saddam Hussein braced for full-blown war with  the coalition, his large forces appeared powerful,   both on paper and publicly. But despite being  equipped with Soviet and Western-made tanks,   aircraft, and missiles, his men were tired and   most definitely battle-hardened by a  decade of brutal conflict with Iran.
(09:41) On January 15, 1991, President Bush addressed the  nation and the entire world by stating: [QUOTE] “Saddam has arrogantly rejected all  warnings. Instead, he tried to make   this a dispute between Iraq and the United  States of America. Well, he failed. Tonight,   28 nations—countries from 5 continents,  Europe and Asia, Africa, and the Arab   League—have forces in the Gulf area standing  shoulder to shoulder against Saddam Hussein.
(10:12) “​ It was finally official: a new era of  war had begun. The coalition had the   most advanced military technology of the  time—precision missiles, stealth bombers,   and high-tech airpower—dominating the  battlefield and terrorizing the enemy. Yet,   even amidst this cutting-edge warfare,   a duo of battleship legends of a bygone era were  vital to the success of Operation Desert Storm.
(10:36) The sister ships’ last battle  had been in Korea, and now,   40 years later, they were thundering  into action as if time had never passed. At exactly 1:40am on January 17, 1991, USS  Missouri launched her first Tomahawk missile,   sending it streaking into the midnight sky and  marking her triumphant return to battle.
(10:58) Moments   later, her iconic 16-inch guns opened fire,  her first combat bombardment since March 1953;   the thunderous roar of her cannons  echoed loudly across the desert   as they targeted an Iraqi command and  control bunker near the Saudi border. While Missouri delivered her blows, USS  Wisconsin took on an equally critical role.
(11:20) As the official Tomahawk Land Attack Missile,  TLAM, strike commander for the Persian Gulf,   she coordinated the opening missile salvo of  the campaign. In those first crucial days,   Wisconsin fired a total of 24 Tomahawk missiles,  each one aimed at vital targets deep inside Iraq. With this, the ruse was now in motion.
(11:43) On January 29, 1991, the frigate USS  Curts led USS Missouri northward,   her advanced mine-avoidance sonar guiding  the massive battleship through treacherous   waters. Just days later, on February  3, Missouri unleashed another barrage,   this time bombarding Iraqi beach defenses,  firing a total of 112 rounds.
(12:05) These operations   were coordinated by a Marine OV-10 Bronco;  the aging model, much like the battleships,   defied expectations and proved their worth despite  having been considered relics of an earlier time. In the weeks leading up to  the late February invasion,   United States top commanders knew  how to seize the world’s attention   to continue with the ruse.
(12:29) The comeback  of the sister ships—USS Missouri and USS   Wisconsin—with their massive 16-inch guns became  the focal point of global speculation. Front   pages around the world buzzed with reports  hinting at an impending amphibious assault. Even The New York Times fell under the spell,   with one report from February 4 capturing  the growing anticipation: [QUOTE] “Powerful guns aboard the battleship  Missouri lobbed 2,700-pound shells   against Iraqi command bunkers near the Kuwaiti  coastline, military command officials said,   describing the shore bombardment as a  further indication that an American-led
(13:02) amphibious assault on occupied  Kuwait might be drawing near.” The world was watching, and even the general  public had to believe the fake invasion. Two days later, on February 6, USS Missouri  was relieved in the gunfire support role by   her sister ship, USS Wisconsin.
(13:29) That same day,  escorted by USS Nicholas, she unleashed her fury,   sending 11 shells across 19 miles, obliterating  an Iraqi artillery battery in southern Kuwait. The following day, she finally got an opportunity  to use one of her greatest technological updates,   bringing into the fight the ship’s own  RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle,   marking the first time a drone had been used in  combat to spot targets.
(13:52) Guided by this unmanned   eye in the sky, Wisconsin seamlessly  hammered a communications compound,   raining down 24 shells on  Iraqi missile facilities,   artillery sites, and electronic warfare positions  along the coastline. That same evening, she fired   50 additional rounds in nearby piers, sinking  or heavily damaging more than a dozen ships.
(14:13) On February 9, Wisconsin continued her assault,  pounding bunkers and fortified positions while   targeting enemy troops near Khafji, lending  support to Saudi and Qatari forces that were   pushing the enemy forces out of the city. In the  days that followed, her sister ship, Missouri,   resumed bombardment in the area,  unleashing 60 more rounds before   they headed to Faylaka Island for  her next mission the following week.
(14:38) On the way there, the UAVs  continued to prove their worth,   this time spotting a convoy of trucks  resupplying an Iraqi command post;   Wisconsin wasted no time leveling ten  buildings and delivering a powerful blow. For days, the two sisters continued to work  in tandem, alternating along the coastline,   dismantling Iraqi defenses and forcing  them to stay pinned to the coast,   their combined firepower paving the  way for the coalition’s next move.
(15:08) On the night of February 23, both battleships  turned their guns on Faylaka Island,   with the goal of using their guns to create a  diversionary strike to convince Iraqi forces that   the amphibious invasion was now imminent. Missouri  opened the assault, tearing into Iraqi defenses,   lighting up the night with each impact of her Mark  8 armor-piercing shells, each weighing a massive   2,700 pounds, aided by her Pioneer drone, which  continued to scout targets for the ship.
(15:36) Below,   explosions rocked the coastline, with shells  raining down on entrenched Iraqi positions,   shaking the dug-in troops and  filling the air with chaos and fear. After Missouri finished its devastating  assault, Wisconsin followed suit,   launching her Pioneer drone to scan  for more targets.
(15:55) This time, however,   as the drone’s low and menacing buzz reverberated  over the island, the Iraqis had had enough. Having   just witnessed Missouri’s brutal barrage, the  terrified men began waving makeshift white flags,   signaling their desperate attempt to surrender—not  to soldiers, but to a machine in the sky.
(16:12) Amused, Wisconsin’s drone operators  radioed their commanding officer,   Captain David Bill III, asking: [QUOTE] “Sir, they want to surrender.  What should I do with them?” This unbelievable moment became the  most defining and remembered moment   of the entire Gulf War and also marked the first   time in history an enemy surrendered to  an unmanned drone controlled by a ship.
(16:35) The following day, Wisconsin and her crew  responded to multiple calls for fire support,   blasting entrenched Iraqi  troops from their bunkers.   After witnessing the destruction  unleashed by the sister ships,   a Saudi marine commander couldn’t help  but remark over the radio: [QUOTE] “I wish we had a battleship in our navy! Yet, as Missouri and Wisconsin continued  to hold the line without fault, the Iraqis   had one more desperate and dangerous move to play.
(17:04) The next day, USS Missouri edged  within ten miles of the Kuwaiti coast,   escorted by USS Jarrett and HMS Gloucester  for security. The illusion was still holding,   and just before 1:00am, Mighty Mo’  shot once again at Iraqi positions,   pounding all along the coastline.
(17:25) To make the deception even more convincing,   ten Marine Corps helicopters launched a feint near  Ash Shuaybah, their engines roaring across the   Gulf. This brazen move would not go unnoticed by  the enemy, and this time, Iraq would not sit back.  At 4:52am, just as the helicopters pulled away,  Iraqi forces—still convinced the invasion was   coming from the sea—responded by launching  a duo of Silkworm missiles from the shore,   aimed directly at Missouri.
(17:55) An A-6 Intruder  circling above immediately picked up the   launch and reported two distinct  trails streaking through the sky.  The first missile, confused by the chaff  fired from the flotilla, veered off and   crashed harmlessly into the sea between Missouri  and Jarrett. But the second missile wasn’t slowing   down. Instead, it sped toward Missouri,  locked on and closing the distance fast.
(18:16) Detected more than 20 miles out, it was tracking  straight for the battleship. In video footage   from that day, a chilling call across the ship’s  comms: [QUOTE] “Missile inbound… brace for shock.” With this, all the men aboard Mighty Mo’  were beginning to fear for their lives. Nearby, HMS Gloucester, one of the ships providing  a defense, picked up the incoming missile on   the radar. Reacting instantly, the destroyer  launched two Sea Dart missiles.
(18:49) Once in the sky,   they connected with their target, obliterating  the Silkworm before it could reach Missouri.   This event marked the first successful missile  versus missile engagement at sea in combat. Now, with the biggest threat out of the  way, an E-2C Hawkeye, circling high above,   quickly coordinated with surveillance assets  to pinpoint the launch site.
(19:10) With the location   locked in, Intruder attack aircraft were  dispatched to deliver their payload. No   less than a dozen Mk20 Rockeye cluster  bombs rained down on the missile site,   wiping out the remaining missile  batteries and reducing them to rubble. While the Silkworm threat was no more, only a  few hours later, another close call occurred.
(19:32) It was still February 25, and USS Missouri  continued pounding Iraqi targets along the coast,   her guns thunderously echoing across  the water. The battle seemed endless,   but while HMS Gloucester had moved on,   Missouri was now accompanied by USS  Jarrett, HMS Atherstone, and HMS Exeter. Amid the bombardment, the situation took  another dangerous turn when HMS Exeter   spotted thick black smoke rising from an  oil well that Iraqi forces had set ablaze.
(20:01) The tension on board Missouri escalated as the  alert went out—a missile launch seemed imminent. It was only hours since Missouri had  narrowly escaped the first missile strike,   and now the crew was ordered to brace for impact  once again. In an instant, Missouri deployed her   chaff countermeasures, hoping to confuse  the incoming missile’s guidance systems.
(20:23) But what followed was something no one saw coming.  The chaff drifted between Missouri and Jarrett,   and suddenly, Jarrett’s Phalanx  defense system, set to auto-engage,   identified the chaff as a threat. Without  warning, the 20-millimeter cannons from   Jarrett opened fire, locking onto the  chaff cloud—and hitting Missouri.
(20:42) The   burst of rounds sprayed across the battleship,  jolting the crew as friendly fire struck home. In the confusion of this technological  blunder, word aboard Mighty Mo spread that   a gas attack could be imminent. Sailors  scrambled to put on their gas masks,   the fear of chemical warfare hanging  over every second, adding to the chaos.
(21:03) Yet again, Missouri had narrowly escaped  disaster. The damage was superficial,   and no one aboard was seriously hurt, but it  was a close call—one too many in a single day. After what felt like hours, the tension broke,  and the crew, still braced for impact, was finally   ordered to stand down.
(21:26) Though they were still  instructed to wear protective gear, the all-clear   came at last. Over the intercom, the Executive  Officer’s voice broke the silence: (QUOTE) “All stations, relax the gas masks. […]  there’s no reported gas and no missile activity.” Relief washed over the ship. The looming  threat of chemical weapons had hovered over   every moment of the Gulf War, keeping the crew  on edge. But, for now, the danger had passed.
(21:49) Bill Genereux, a crew member working on  the systems that aimed Missouri’s guns,   later described the tension of that day while  stationed in the battery plotting room: (QUOTE) “This memory is forever embedded in my memory  […] I was deep inside of an armored World   War 2 battleship. The plotting room is one of a  battleship’s ‘vital organs’ so to speak.
(22:10) It is   the brains to the ship’s brawn, the 16″ guns.  Without the computer equipment in this space,   the ship cannot fight, so it is  located deep inside the armored belt,   right next to the engine spaces, meant to  be safe from… shells and torpedoes. Even so,   with a missile bearing down on you and  you can do nothing but stand there and   take whatever is coming, you have  to wonder if this could be the end?” As coalition forces continued with the  actual ground offensive on February 25,   naval forces along the coast  prevented any sort of redeployment.
(22:45) On February 26, in the heart of the  desert, Captain H.R. McMaster led his   troop into the Battle of 73 Easting. In a  stunning display of precision and speed,   a single unit of Abrams tanks  and Bradley fighting vehicles   decimated 44 Iraqi tanks and armored vehicles  without suffering a single loss.
(23:05) This decisive   inland victory became an iconic moment in  what would be known as the 100-hour war. That same day, Missouri began  armistice enforcement operations. Finally, on February 28, after weeks  of relentless coalition advances,   Saddam Hussein, facing overwhelming losses and the  absolute collapse of his military, accepted the   coalition’s terms for peace, and President Bush  officially called for an end to the hostilities.
(23:33) By then, these sister ships had collectively  unleashed more than one million pounds of   explosives against Iraqi positions. That  same day, Wisconsin fired the last naval   gunfire-support mission of the war, becoming the  final battleship in world history to see action. While the coalition suffered the loss of 300  troops, this number was far lower than expected,   largely thanks to the successful ruse that kept  Iraqi forces pinned to the coast, unable to   focus on the true threat deeper inland. On the  other side, Iraqi forces paid a heavy price,
(24:05) with an estimated 10,000 fallen troops  and their armored divisions left in ruins. Over eight months in service in the Persian  Gulf, USS Wisconsin logged 348 UAV hours,   completed 661 safe helicopter landings,  traveled 46,000 nautical miles,   and unleashed 319 16-inch shells, 881 5-inch  shells, and 5,200 rounds from its Phalanx   CIWS. She also launched 24 Tomahawk cruise  missiles.
(24:38) For her part, USS Missouri cleared   15 naval mines, fired 759 16-inch shells,  and launched 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Though the battleships had proven their worth  in Desert Storm, as the Soviet threat collapsed   that same year, all remaining battleships  were taken out of service. In the end,   these sister battleships, veterans of  three wars spanning nearly five decades,   received numerous awards for their service.  Today, they are preserved as museum ships.