| After three training cruises in the Caribbean, MIDWAY sailed from Norfolk on another experimental mission. This time she was accompanied by scientific observers as she fired a German V-2 rocket from her flight deck, the first time such a weapon was fired from a ship at sea or a moving platform. For the next several years MIDWAY sailed with the Atlantic Fleet operating in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans. She also crossed the Arctic Circle on one cruise gaining membership in the "Royal Order of the Blue Nose." In December 1954 MIDWAY departed Norfolk for a world cruise that would take her to such ports as Capetown, South Africa and Colombo, Ceylon before joining the Seventh Fleet off Formosa in February. She served there patrolling the Formosan Straits and the South China Sea until June when she returned briefly to her new home port, Alameda, California. In August she proceeded to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to undergo modernization. When she returned to the fleet in September, 1957 she sported an enclosed hurricane bow, and angled flight deck, three new steam catapults, new arresting gear, jet blast deflectors, and the largest aviation crane ever installed on an aircraft carrier. During the next eight years MIDWAY operated in the Pacific with the First and Seventh Fleets. A highlight of this period was the first fully automatic carrier landing on June 13, 1963. An F-4 Phantom and an F-8 Crusader landed aboard without their pilots touching the controls.
In 1965, operating as part of Task Force 77 in the Gulf of Tonkin, MIDWAY'S aircraft flew 11,900 combat missions against North and South Vietnam. During this deployment MIDWAY aircraft were responsible for downing the first three North Vietnamese MIGs of the air conflict. For their performance, MIDWAY and her air wing. Attack Carrier Air Wing TWO, received the Navy Commendation and, in addition, MIDWAY received the Battle Efficiency "E", marking her as the outstanding carrier in Pacific Fleet. MIDWAY returned to Alameda in November and was decommissioned in February 1966 at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard to undergo the most extensive modernization ever completed on a Naval vessel. Today MIDWAY is operationally equivalent to the newest conventionally powered carriers and is able to launch and recover aircraft one-third heavier than her sister ship, the CORAL SEA. Her increased capabilities are a result of the expansion of her flight deck from 2.82 to 4.02 acres, and the addition of three new deck edge elevators, new arresting gear machinery, and catapults. She has also added the largest and most complex avionics shops in the fleet, the computerized Naval Tactical Data System and many habilability improvements. 1970 was a year of preparation for MIDWAY. After commissioning on January 31st. Builders Trials, Refresher Training and a Post Shakedown yard period helped bring the ship and crew to a peak of readiness. This was reflected in outstanding performance by the ship in early 1971 during Interim Refresher Training, a fleet exercise, several Carrier Qualification periods and an Operational Readiness Inspection. MIDWAY departed Alameda on April 16th for service with the U.S. Seventh Fleet off the coast of South Vietnam. With Air Wing Five embarked and a crew of 4,500 the ship launched over six thousand missions in support of allied operations in the Republic of Vietnam. MIDWAY returned to Alameda on November 6th after spending a total of 146 days at sea during her 1971 deployment. Due to a sudden North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam, MIDWAY left on April 10, 1972 for a third Vietnam deployment, seven weeks prior to her scheduled deployment date. On this deployment MIDWAY'S aircraft played an important role in the effort of U.S. forces to stop the flow of men and supplies into South Vietnam from the North and were credited with downing the last MIG of the war. Operating in the Gulf of Tonkin longer than any other carrier and air wing during a single deployment (205 days), MIDWAY and Air Wing Five were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for this action. On September 2, 1973 MIDWAY left Alameda on one of her most important voyages to date. The men of MIDWAY and Air Wing FIVE moved with their families to Yokosuka, Japan as part of the Navy's Overseas Family Residency Program. MIDWAY was stationed off the coast of Vietnam on April 29, 1975 when evacuation began. In two days of operations, a total of 3,073 evacuees were recovered. Midway returned to the Indian Ocean in 1979 and made two cruises there within a year. The first was in April in keeping with the U.S. policy of maintaining a high visible presence in the area. This "emergency" cruise earned MIDWAY the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal. Due to events in the Middle East, she returned to the Indian Ocean in September and remained there until February 1980. During this cruise, she set a record of 91 continuous days of operations at sea. In late 1980 and early 1981 MIDWAY once again returned to the Indian Ocean, making port calls in Singapore, Perth, Western Australia, and Subic Bay Republic of the Philippines, returning to Yokosuka. Japan in early June. Since then the MIDWAY has operated throughout the Western Pacific stopping in ports such as Pusan, South Korea. Hong Kong: Pattaya Beach, Thailand and Sasebo, Japan. During this time period the MIDWAY has earned The Battle Efficiency "E" twice, the AIRPAC Food Service Excellence award twice, the prestigious NEY Memorial Award for excellence in Food Service twice, COMNAVAIRPAC Laundry/Dry Cleaning Excellence Award in addition to numerous other departmental awards. Today MIDWAY is one of the newest and oldest of the Navy's combat ships. Armed with new strength and tempered by years of experience, she sails in defense and pursuit of a lasting peace. |
| San Diego bids for USS Midway (UPI / CLARK McKINLEY) SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 29 (UPI) -- The state of California has an eye on the USS Midway, the mothballed flagship of Desert Storm that San Diegans hope to turn into a major tourist attraction. The Legislature weighed into the campaign last week with a resolution to the president, Congress and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It seeks approval of San Diego's plans to borrow the 51,000-ton aircraft carrier for a museum and entertainment center -- as New York, Charleston, S.C., and Corpus Christi, Texas, have done with other flattops. The Midway has been docked at the Naval shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., since it was decommissioned in San Diego in 1992. Ship historians like to point out that its crew ushered in the era of naval missile warfare on Sept. 6, 1947 -- its first year of service. That was the successful launch of a captured German V-2 rocket off the U.S. East Coast. Spokesman Scott McGaugh says a nonprofit San Diego group has raised $1.5 million toward the anticipated cost of up to $12 million for the project. The rest must come from private contributions and a $10 million bond measure. The Navy has conceptually approved a berth in San Diego Bay at the foot of downtown for the ship, which is named for the Battle of Midway, a turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II. McGaugh says San Diego port authorities likely will endorse the project after an environmental impact report in the fall -- about the same time San Diego gets its answer from the Navy. The San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum submitted 390 pages in its application, but McGaugh says the decision may be too late to hold the grand opening on July 4, 1998, the project target. He says it will take at least two months to tow the Midway down the coast. The 1,000-foot-long warship once was the largest carrier afloat, with a crew of 5,000, and is about two-thirds the size of contemporary nuclear-powered flattops. Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, the San Diego County Republican who authored the state's resolution, says the Midway ``is a grand and glorious ship, and we need to have that ship in San Diego.'' He says Oregon also wants the Midway, although project sponsors say they know of no formal bids from that state. As a museum, the vessel would showcase the artifacts of 85 years of naval aviation -- from World War I-vintage planes to the F-14 Tomcat fighter still in service. McGaugh says project backers already have purchased the first 14 aircraft of several dozen planned for the shipboard museum. They also envision virtual reality flights, interactive computer exhibits, overnight educational campaign trips for schools, and the ship's use by tourists and community groups. |