Battleships were once the most terrifying of steel sea monsters. One British ship set the standard: HMS Dreadnought. Heavily armored big gun battleships, with their overwhelming fire power, became the weapon of choice for asserting naval power. It was an era that would end only with World War II and the rise of the aircraft carrier. But even then, there was one last broadside to fire. The 1945 surrender ceremony ending World War II was signed on board the ultimate in big guns ships, the USS Missouri.