USS Midway Museum in San Diego

An Aircraft Carrier Museum at the Embarcadero

Nov 9, 2009 Tom Wolsey

Along the Embarcadero in San Diego, naval and maritime history enthusiasts will find the USS Midway.

Standing on the flight deck of the USS Midway at Navy Pier in San Diego, the visitor may look across the bay and see active duty ships such as the USS Makin Island or the USS Ronald Reagan.

Just north along the Embarcadero, the Californian, the Star of India, and the America can be found. However, the Midway impresses the visitor by her size and her long history of service in the United States Navy.

Early History

The Midway’s keel was laid down in 1943 and she was commissioned September 10, 1945. She saw many firsts during her years of service, and she is the class ship. Other ships in her class include the USS Coral Sea and the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (Van Orden, 1979). She was the first of the big carriers.

Her first deployment was with a peacekeeping force in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet. Her flight deck served as the platform for the first ever test firing from a moving vessel of a captured German V-2 rocket in 1947 (US Navy, Public Affairs, 2006). The CV designation on a US Navy ship indicates an aircraft carrier while the B in Midway’s original designation indicated she is a “large” aircraft carrier. She was re-designated in 1952 from CVB-41 to CVA-41 with the A indicating that she is an attack carrier.

Originally, the flight deck of Midway ran essentially along the centerline of the ship. By 1952, the Navy had begun experimenting with angled flight decks which permitted simultaneous take off and landing operations and accommodated the landing speeds of jet aircraft. The angled deck also increased the potential for a pilot to abort a landing if the jet did not connect with the arrestor cables.

The angled deck concept was first tested using a simulated, angled flight deck on the HMS Triumph of the Royal Navy and the USS Midway. Between 1955 and 1957, Midway was refitted for the angled flight deck then reassigned to the Pacific 7th Fleet in 1958.

In the 1960’s, Midway served in the Vietnam conflict, and successful tests of automatic carrier landings with the pilot’s hands off the controls were successfully completed. She was modernized at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard and recommissioned in 1970.

Midway from 1970 through 1991

Midway served again in the Vietnam conflict, and in operations off the coast of Korea in the 1970s. 3,073 refugees were evacuated in Operation Frequent Wind near the end of the Vietnam War (USS Midway Museum, 2009).

Most of her deployments in the 1980s were in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Midway participated in Operation Desert Shield to protect Kuwait from attack by Iraq and later was on station in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. After her service there, she sailed for Japan, then on to North Island Naval Air Station where she was decommissioned on April 11, 1992.

USS Midway Today

Today, the Midway is operated as an aircraft carrier museum by The USS Midway Museum, a nonprofit organization. Her hangar decks are fitted with aircraft flight simulators, and World War II and veterans of other conflicts often serve as docents. A collection of Navy aircraft, including an F/A-18 Hornet and Sea Knight helicopter, can be found on her flight decks.

Visitors can tour the pilot’s ready rooms or visit the “island,” which is the command center for the ship and flight operations. The fantail has been transformed for service as a café for visitors aboard the ship, and an extensive gift shop includes models, clothing and hats, books, and other souvenirs. The museum is open every day except Thanksgiving (US) and Christmas. Veteran’s Day activities in 2009 include air shows, speakers, demonstrations, and a blood drive.

Reference

Van Orden, M. D. The book of United States Navy ships, 3rd ed., New York: Dodd, Mead, & Company, 1979.

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