C&T Publications REVOLUTIONS II - April 2015 | Page 82

U.S.S. Midway Museum
by Tommy Anderson

The U.S.S. Midway Museum located on the waterfront in
San Diego California is the place to be in Southern
California to study United States Naval History on an iconic
naval warship.
USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was an aircraft carrier of
the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class.
Commissioned a week after the end of World War II,
Midway was the largest ship in the world until 1955, as
well as the first U.S. warship too big to transit the Panama
Canal. A revolutionary hull design, based on the planned
Montana-class battleship, gave her better maneuverability
than previous carriers. She served for an unprecedented
47 years, having seen action in the Vietnam War and been
the Persian Gulf flagship in 1991's Operation Desert
Storm. Decommissioned in 1992, she is now a museum
ship at the USS Midway Museum, in San Diego, California, and the only remaining U.S. aircraft carrier of the World War II era that is
not an Essex-class aircraft carrier.
On 30 September 2003, Midway began her journey from the Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Washington, to
San Diego, California, on January 10th, 2004; the ship was moored at her final location, where she was opened to the public on June
7th, 2004.
In the first year of operation, the museum saw 879,281 visitors, double the expected attendance.
For more information please visit: http://www.midway.org/
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