USS Midway (CV-41)
| USS Midway (CVA-41), in the Western Pacific, 30 November 1974. |
| | Career |  | USN Jack |
|
|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 27 October 1943 |
| Launched: | 20 March 1945 |
| Commissioned: | 10 September 1945 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 April 1992 |
| Struck: | 17 March 1997 |
| Fate: | museum ship |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 59,901 |
| Length: | 972 ft (296 m) |
| Beam: | 113 ft (34.4 m) |
| Extreme Width: | 136 ft (41.5 m); 238' at flight deck after modernization |
| Draft: | 34.5 ft (10.5 m) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (60 km/h) |
| Complement: | 4,104 officers and men |
| Armament: | 18 × 5 in (127 mm) guns,
84 × 40 mm guns,
68 × 20 mm guns |
| Aircraft: | 137 theoretical, 100 (WW2-Korea), 65 (Vietnam-retirement) |
USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was an
aircraft carrier of the
United States Navy, the
lead ship of
her class, and the first to be commissioned after the end of
World War II. Active in the
Vietnam War and in
Operation Desert Storm,
as of 2006 she is a
museum ship in
San Diego, California.
Midway was laid down
27 October 1943 by
Newport News Shipbuilding Co.,
Newport News, Virginia. Her revolutionary hull design was based on what would have been the
Montana class battleships that gave her superior maneuverability over all previous carriers. She was launched
20 March 1945; sponsored by Mrs.
Bradford William Ripley, Jr.; and commissioned
10 September 1945, Captain
Joseph F. Bolger in command.
After shakedown in the
Caribbean,
Midway joined in the
U.S. Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with
Norfolk her homeport. From
20 February 1946 she was
flagship for CarDiv 1. In March, she tested equipment and techniques for cold weather operations in the North Atlantic. East Coast and Caribbean training was highlighted by
Operation Sandy in September 1947, in which she test fired a captured German
V-2 rocket from her
flight deck, first such launching from a moving platform.
On
29 October 1947,
Midway sailed for the first of her annual deployments with the
6th Fleet in the
Mediterranean. A powerful extension of sea/air power,
Midway trained between deployments and received alterations necessary to accommodate heavier aircraft as they were developed. In 1952, she participated in
North Sea maneuvers with
NATO forces, and on
1 October was redesignated
CVA-41.
Midway cleared Norfolk
27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the
Cape of Good Hope for
Taiwan, where she joined the
7th Fleet for operations in the Western Pacific until
28 June 1955 when she sailed for overhaul at
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Here, she was out of commission until
30 September 1957, while she underwent an extensive modernization program (SCB-110).
Midway received an enclosed "hurricane bow," an aft deck-edge elevator, an
angled flight deck, and steam catapults.
Homeported at
Alameda, California,
Midway began annual deployments with the 7th Fleet in 1958, and was on such duty in the
South China Sea during the
Laotian Crisis of Spring 1961. During her 1962 deployment, her aircraft tested the air defense systems of
Japan,
Korea,
Okinawa, the
Philippines, and
Taiwan. When she again sailed for the Far East
6 March 1965, her aircraft were prepared for combat operations, and from mid-April flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and
South Vietnam. Illustrative of the major contribution the carrier made to the war was a notable "first" for aviators of her Attack Carrier Wing 2, who in June, downed the first three
MiGs credited to U.S. Forces in Southeast Asia.
Returning to Alameda on
23 November,
Midway entered
San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on
11 February 1966 for a massive modernization (SCB-101.66) which proved to be very expensive and controversial. The flight deck was enlarged from 2.8 to 4 acres (11 300 to 16 200 m²). The elevators were enlarged, relocated, and given almost double the weight capacity.
Midway also received new catapults, arresting gear, and a centralized air conditioning plant. Massive cost overruns raised the price of this program from $88 million to $202 million, and thus precluded a similar modernization planned for
Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42).
Midway finally recommissioned on
31 January 1970.
 |
Two F-8 Crusaders prepare to launch from the USS Midway (CV-41). |
Midway returned to
Vietnam and on
18 May 1971, after relieving
Hancock (CV-19) on
Yankee Station, began single carrier operations which continued until the end of the month. She departed Yankee Station on
5 June, and completed her final line period on
31 October. She returned to her homeport on
6 November.
Midway, with embarked
Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW 5), again departed Alameda for operations off Vietnam on
10 April 1972. On
11 May, aircraft from
Midway along with those from
Coral Sea (CV-43),
Kitty Hawk (CV-63), and
Constellation (CV-64) continued laying
minefields in ports of signicance to the North Vietnamese—
Thanh Hoa,
Dong Hoi,
Vinh,
Hon Gai,
Quang Khe and
Cam Pha as well as other approaches to
Haiphong. Ships that were in port in Haiphong had been advised that the mining would take place and that the mines would be armed 72 hours later.
Midway continued Vietnam operations throughout the summer of 1972.
On
7 August 1972, an HC-7 Det 110 helicopter, flying from
Midway, and aided by planes from the carrier and from
Saratoga (CV-60), conducted a
search and rescue mission for a downed aviator in
North Vietnam. The pilot of an
A-7 Corsair II aircraft from
Saratoga had been downed by a
surface-to-air missile about 20 miles (30 km) inland, northwest of
Vinh, on
6 August. The HC-7 helo flew over mountainous terran to rescue the pilot. The rescue helicopter used its search light to assist in locating the downed aviator and, despite receiving heavy ground fire, was successful in retrieving him and returning to an
LPD off the coast. This was the deepest penetration of a rescue helicopter into North Vietnam since 1968. HC-7 Det 110 continued its rescue missions and by the end of 1972 had successfully accomplished 48 rescues, 35 of which were under combat conditions.
On
5 October 1973,
Midway, with CVW 5, put into
Yokosuka, Japan, marking the first forward-deployment of a complete carrier task group in a Japanese port, the result of an accord arrived at on
31 August 1972 between the U.S. and Japan. In addition to the morale factor of dependents housed along with the crew in a foreign port, the move had strategic significance because it facilitated continuous positioning of three carriers in the Far East at a time when the economic situation demanded the reduction of carriers in the fleet.
|
USAF CH-53 helicopters on the deck of Midway during Operation Frequent Wind, April 1975 |
Midway,
Coral Sea (CV-43),
Hancock (CV-19),
Enterprise (CVN-65) and
Okinawa (LPH-3) responded
19 April 1975 to the waters off
South Vietnam when
North Vietnam overran two-thirds of South Vietnam. Ten days later,
Operation Frequent Wind was carried out by
U.S. 7th Fleet forces. Hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese were evacuated to waiting ships after the fall of
Saigon to the North Vietnamese. One South Vietnamese pilot landed a small aircraft aboard
Midway, bringing himself and his family to safety. During this operation,
Midway had left her regular combat air wing in her home port of
Yokusuka, Japan and carried 10 large US Air Force
CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters for the purpose of ferrying people from Saigon out to the fleet cruising in the South China Sea. She picked up her regular air wing again a month later when she returned to Japan
On
21 August 1976, a Navy task force headed by
Midway made a show of force off the coast of
Korea in response to an unprovoked attack on two U.S. Army officers who were killed by North Korean guards on
18 August. (The U.S. response to this incident was
Operation Paul Bunyan).
Midway's response was in support of a U.S. demonstration of military concern vis-à-vis
North Korea.
Midway relieved
Constellation (CV-64) as the
Indian Ocean contingency carrier on
16 April 1979.
Midway and her escort ships continued a significant American naval presence in the oil-producing region of the
Arabian Sea and
Persian Gulf. On
18 November, she arrived in the northern part of the Arabian Sea in connection with the continuing hostage crisis in
Iran. Militant followers of the
Ayatollah Khomeini, who had come to power following the overthrow of the Shah, seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on
4 November and held 63 U.S. citizens hostage.
Midway was joined
21 November by
Kitty Hawk (CV-63), and both carriers, along with their escort ships, were joined by the
Nimitz (CVN-68) and her escorts on
22 January 1980.
Midway was relieved by
Coral Sea (CV-43) on
5 February.
Following a period in Yokosuka,
Midway was again on duty, this time relieving
Coral Sea 30 May 1980 on standby south of the Cheju-Do Islands in the
Sea of Japan following the potential of civil unrest in the Republic of Korea. On
17 August,
Midway relieved
Constellation to begin another Indian Oean deployment and to complement the
Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) task group still on contingency duty in the Arabian Sea.
Midway spent a total of 118 days in the Indian Ocean during 1980.
|
Midway prepares to moor at her final resting place at Navy pier in San Diego where she will become the largest museum devoted to carriers and naval aviation. (Jan. 10, 2004) |
On
16 March 1981, an
A-6 Intruder from VA-115 aboard
Midway sighted a downed civilian helicopter in the South China Sea.
Midway immediately dispatched HC-1 Det 2 helicopters to the scene. All 17 people aboard the downed helicopter were rescued and brought aboard the carrier. The chartered civilian helicopter was also plucked out of the water and lifted to
Midway's flight deck.
Midway continued serving in the western Pacific throughout the 1980s. In order to alleviate persistent seakeeping issues,
Midway received hull blisters in 1986. The modification proved unsuccessful.
On
25 March 1986, the final carrier launching of a Navy fleet
F-4S Phantom II took place off
Midway during flight operations in the
East China Sea. The aircraft was manned by pilot Lt. Alan S. Cosgrove and radar intercept officer Lt. Greg Blankenship of VF-151. Phantoms were being replaced by the new
F/A-18 Hornets.
On
2 August 1990, Iraq invaded its neighbor
Kuwait, and U.S. forces moved into
Saudi Arabia as part of
Operation Desert Shield to protect that country against invasion by
Iraq. On
1 November 1990,
Midway was again on station in the North Arabian Sea, relieving
Independence. On
15 November, she participated in
Operation Imminent Thunder, an eight-day combined amphibious landing exercise in northeastern Saudi Arabia which involved about 1,000 U.S. Marines, 16 warships, and more than 1,100 aircraft. Meanwhile, the
United Nations set an ultimatum deadline of
15 January 1991 for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.
Operation Desert Storm began the next day, and the Navy launched 228 sorties from
Midway and
Ranger (CV-61) in the Persian Gulf, from
Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) en route to the Gulf, and from
John F. Kennedy,
Saratoga, and
America in the Red Sea. In addition, the Navy launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles from nine ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Desert Storm officially ended
27 February, and
Midway departed the Persian Gulf
11 March 1991 and returned to Yokosuka.
|
Port view of the USS Midway after its final mooring and conversion to a floating museum. |
In August 1991,
Midway departed Yokosuka and returned to Pearl Harbor. Here, she turned over with
Independence which was replacing
Midway as the forward-deployed carrier in
Yokosuka.
Midway then sailed to San Diego where she was decommissioned at
Naval Air Station North Island on
11 April 1992 in a ceremony in which the main speaker was
Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney. She was stricken from the
Naval Vessel Register on
17 March 1997. During the decommissioning process, she was used to film portions of the movie
At Sea, a documentary on carrier life shown only at the Navy Museum in
Washington D.C. Both sailors and their families participated in the filming or the homecoming scenes.
On
30 September 2003,
Midway began her journey from the
Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility,
Bremerton, Washington, to
San Diego, California in preparation for use as a museum and memorial. She was docked at the Charles P. Howard Terminal in
Oakland, California, during the first week in October while the construction of her pier in San Diego was completed. Then, on
10 January 2004 the ship was moored at her final location at the Broadway Pier in downtown San Diego, where she was opened to the public on
7 June 2004.
Visitors may tour the ship's flight deck, hangar bay, mess hall, bridge, primary flight control area, enlisted and junior officer quarters, sickbay, and portions of the engine rooms. Additionally, several restored aircraft are on display in the hangar and on the flight deck. Self-guided audio tours are provided with admission. Events and meetings are held on board as well.
Bringing the ship to San Diego as a museum was the source of some controversy. Critics raised objections including environmental concerns and blocking of scenic sightlines. Under the terms agreed to in receiving space to dock the ship, a portion of the ships bow is accessible free of charge to allow all visitors to enjoy views of the San Diego harbor and skyline without paying admission, and the preservation of some acres of land as a wetland habitat. There were also concerns that the Midway Museum would steal customers from other local attractions. For example, the ship is located near the independently operated
Maritime Museum of San Diego, which includes a collection of historic ships including the
tall ship Star of India and the
Surprise, a replica British frigate used in the filming of the movie
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Through 2004, the Maritime business has actually received an increase of visitors, and the Executive Director of the Maritime Museum believes that part of the credit goes to the arrival of the Midway.
[Sauer, Mark Aircraft carrier Midway finds itself awash in visitors February 13,2005 San Diego Union Tribune - Accessed 23 March 2006]*
List of aircraft carriers*
List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy*
USS Midway for other ships of the same name.
*
San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum.
*
history.navy.mil: USS Midway*
navsource.org: USS Midway (CV-41)*
A Podcast from Speaking of History about a tour of the USS Midway in July of 2006
