Editing USS Missouri (BB-63) (section)

===Armament, fire control, sensors and aircraft===
The [[main battery]] of the ''Iowa''-class ships consisted of nine [[16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 gun|{{cvt|16|in|0}}/50 caliber Mark 7 guns]]{{efn|/50 refers to the length of the gun in terms of [[Caliber (artillery)|calibers]]. A /50 gun is 50 times long as its bore diameter.}} in three triple-[[gun turret]]s on the [[Centerline (nautical)|centerline]], two of which were placed in a [[superfire|superfiring pair]] forward of the [[superstructure]], with the third aft. Going from [[bow (ship)|bow]] to [[stern]], the turrets were designated I, II, and III. Their [[secondary armament|secondary battery]] consisted of twenty [[5"/38 caliber gun|{{cvt|5|in|0}}/38 caliber]] [[dual-purpose gun]]s mounted in twin-gun turrets clustered [[amidships]], five turrets on each [[broadside (naval)|broadside]]. Unlike their [[sister ship]]s {{USS|Iowa|BB-61|2}} and ''New Jersey'' that were the first pair of ships built, ''Missouri'' and {{USS|Wisconsin|BB-64|2}} were completed with an [[anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft suite]] of twenty quadruple mounts for [[Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun|{{cvt|40|mm|adj=on|sp=us}} Bofors]] [[AA gun]]s, nine mounts on each broadside and one each on the roofs of Turrets II and III. Forty-nine [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|{{convert|20|mm|1|adj=on|sp=us}} Oerlikon]] light AA [[auto-cannon]] in single mounts were distributed almost the length of the ships.{{sfn|Friedman 1985|pages=323, 449}}

The primary means of controlling the main armament are two Mark 38 [[director (military)|director]]s for the [[Ship gun fire-control system|Mark 38 fire-control system]] mounted at the tops of the fore and aft fire-control towers in the superstructure. These directors were equipped with {{convert|25|ft|6|in|m|1|adj=mid|-long}} [[rangefinder]]s, although their primary sensor was the [[Mark 8 radar|Mark 8]] [[fire-control radar]] mounted on their roofs. A secondary Mark 40 fire-control director was installed inside the armored [[conning tower]] at the front of the superstructure that used the [[Mark 27 radar|Mark 27 fire-control radar]] positioned on the top of the conning tower. Each turret is fitted with a rangefinder {{convert|46|ft|m|0}} long and can act as a director for the other turrets. Four Mark 37 gunnery directors, two on the centerline at the ends of the superstructure and one on each broadside, control the five-inch guns. Each director was equipped with a {{convert|15|ft|m|1|adj=on}} rangefinder and a pair of radars on its roof. These were a [[Mark 12 radar|Mark 12]] fire-control system and a [[Mark 22 radar|Mark 22]] [[height-finder radar]]. Each 40&nbsp;mm mount was remotely controlled by a Mark 51 director that incorporated a Mark 14 lead-computing [[gyro gunsight]] while the sailors that used the 20&nbsp;mm gun used a Mark 14 sight to track their targets.{{sfn|Sumrall|pages=91—94, 98–100, 102–103}}

A [[SK radar|SK-2]] [[early-warning radar]] was fitted on the ship's [[foremast]]; above it was a [[SG radar|SG]] [[surface-search radar]]. The other SG radar was mounted at the top of the mainmast positioned on the rear [[funnel (ship)|funnel]].{{sfn|Sumrall|pages=109, 113}}

The ''Iowa''s were built with two rotating [[aircraft catapult]]s on their stern for [[floatplane]]s and a large [[crane (machine)|crane]] was fitted to recover them. Initially a trio of [[Vought OS2U Kingfisher]]s were carried, but these were replaced by [[Curtiss SC Seahawk]]s in December 1944.{{sfn|Sumrall|pages=94–95}}{{sfn|Draminski|p=29}}{{sfn|Stillwell|p=25}}