PEARL HARBOR — It took about 100 shipyard workers, 21 lines, laser-guided measurements and the better part of a working day yesterday to reposition the battleship Missouri in drydock.

All for 4 feet of movement.

That's the total distance the "Mighty Mo" traveled as part of what's known as a "bounce" — the repositioning of the ship on the keel blocks supporting it so those previously covered sections of the hull can be repainted.

Nothing is a small effort when it comes to the $18 million top-to-bottom repainting and refurbishment of the 887-foot battle wagon, the largest ship ever accommodated in Drydock No. 4 at the Pearl Harbor shipyard.

Ron Chavez, chief engineer for the ship, said the 315 concrete and wood blocks the battleship rests on covered about 5,000 square feet of hull space.

Enough seawater had to be pumped into the drydock to float the 54,899-ton warship about 4 feet off the keel blocks so it could be moved forward 4 feet and then resettled.

It's another milestone in the drydocking of the battleship turned memorial and museum that was the site of Japan's unconditional surrender on Sept. 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

On Christmas Eve exactly 65 years ago, the Missouri steamed into Pearl Harbor for the first time. The battleship opened as a nonprofit museum opposite the sunken USS Arizona off Ford Island on Jan. 29, 1999.

The history that is still being made by the Missouri in drydock isn't lost on the shipyard workers who yesterday were moving the big ship, which has nine 16-inch guns that could hurl a 2,700-pound projectile 23 miles.

Morris Miyagi, who has worked in the shipyard for 28 years, said the Missouri is the first battleship to be drydocked in Pearl Harbor since World War II.

"It's an honor for me to be part of this," said Miyagi, the lead rigger in charge of the Missouri bounce. "It's the dedication and professionalism of all the riggers involved that allows the boat to land within fractions of inches of the mark."

Chavez, the Missouri's chief engineer, said the work that began in mid-October is 75 percent to 80 percent complete.

"It's going according to plan. We've had a few hiccups," he said. "So far, we've accomplished pretty much everything we set out to do, and we're looking forward to undocking on Jan. 7."

The three-month drydocking is the battleship's first since 1992. Rust had eaten holes as big as melons through the seven-eighths-inch steel outer hull.

Inside the outer hull are tanks and armor 8 to 16 inches thick, Chavez said.

About 300 square feet of steel plate was replaced in sections as large as 4 by 8 feet, he said.

The entire ship was encapsulated in six acres of plastic barrier material to keep sandblasting material inside the drydock. The upper portion of the superstructure still is encased in white barrier material.

Each day, more than 200 workers from BAE Systems Ship Repair have worked on the Missouri since it entered drydock.

The hull and the lower superstructure have been repainted a fresh haze gray, and the Missouri again looks battleship new.

"It looks like a brand new penny," Chavez said.

Because the ship is moored at Ford Island, a type of paint typically used for tanks or bridges was used to better withstand the effects of seawater.

A "soft" reopening of the battleship is expected in mid-January, officials said. A grand reopening will be held at the end of the month, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the memorial's original opening and the 66th anniversary of the Missouri's launching from the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

"This ship will be in better shape than any museum ship in the world," Chavez said.

Meaning no rust at all?

"That's a stretch," Chavez said. "There's always going to be rust. It's an ongoing battle but the hull itself — the underwater hull — is preserved, and that's what is most important."