USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) is an aircraft carrier, formerly of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class. Commissioned eight days after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest aircraft carrier in the world until 1955, as well as the first U.S. aircraft carrier too big to transit the Panama Canal. She operated for 47 years, during which time she saw action in the Vietnam War and served as 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.

USS Midway is the only preserved aircraft carrier that is not of the World War II-era Essex class.

Service history Early operations and deployment with the 6th Fleet

Midway was laid down 27 October 1943 in Shipway 11 at Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia; launched 20 March 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Bradford William Ripley Jr.; and commissioned on 10 September 1945 (eight days after the surrender of Japan) with Captain Joseph F. Bolger in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Midway joined the U.S. Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk as her homeport. From 20 February 1946, she was the flagship for Carrier Division 1. In March, she participated in Operation Frostbite testing the Ryan FR Fireball and helicopter rescue techniques for cold-weather operations in the Labrador Sea. In September 1947, a captured German V-2 rocket was test-fired from the flight deck in Operation Sandy, the first large-rocket launch from a moving platform, and the only moving-platform launch for a V-2. While the rocket lifted off, it then tilted and broke up at .

On 29 October 1947, Midway sailed for the first of her annual deployments with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Between deployments, Midway trained and received alterations to accommodate heavier aircraft as they were developed.

In June 1951, Midway operated in the Atlantic off the Virginia Capes during carrier suitability tests of the F9F-5 Panther. On 23 June, as Cdr. George Chamberlain Duncan attempted a landing in BuNo 125228, a downdraft just aft of the stern caused Duncan to crash. His plane's forward fuselage broke away and rolled down the deck, and he suffered burns. Footage of the crash has been used in several films, including Men of the Fighting Lady, Midway, and The Hunt for Red October.

In 1952, the ship participated in Operation Mainbrace, North Sea maneuvers with NATO forces. Midway had an angled runway painted on the flight deck in May for touch-and-go landings following early trials of the technique aboard . Successful demonstration of the possibilities caused widespread adoption of the angled flight deck in future aircraft carrier construction and modifications of existing carriers. On 1 October, the ship was redesignated CVA-41.

Midway left Norfolk 27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope for Taiwan, where she became the first large carrier in the 7th Fleet for operations in the Western Pacific until 28 June 1955. During these operations, Midway pilots flew cover for the evacuation from the Tachen Islands during the Quemoy-Matsu crisisHistorical Center Seeks Quemoy-Matsu Crisis Veterans of 15,000 Chinese nationalist troops and 20,000 Chinese civilians, along with their livestock.

1950s & 60s

Controversy arose during the cruise when Midway around January 1955 docked in Cape Town, South Africa. Democratic senator Herbert Lehman sent a telegram to Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas when he learned of a supposed United States Navy plan to segregate 400 non-white members of the crew of Midway while it was in Cape Town. Fellow Democratic senator Hubert Humphrey soon joined Lehman, additionally sending a letter to the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, asking that "immediate steps be taken to see that equal treatment is given to American service personnel allowed shore leave in South Africa, or eliminate Cape Town as a port of call", and saying that "To me this is a shocking act of discrimination that should not be tolerated by our Government. Every American soldier or sailor is an American regardless of race, color or creed, and is entitled to be respected and treated as such anywhere in the world."

An anonymous Navy official stated that the Department of the Navy did not know of the arrangements that were to be made between the officers of Midway and South African authorities, and that African-American members of the crew would not be segregated while still aboard Midway.

Clarence Mitchell Jr. also urged Thomas not to allow Midway to dock at Cape Town. James H. Smith Jr., Acting Secretary of the Navy at the time, replied that the stop at Cape Town was merely to "satisfy an operational logistic requirement" and that it was customary to observe local laws and regulations while visiting foreign ports.

Captain Reynold Delos Hogle of Midway stated that while in port, Midway would be United States territory and federal United States laws would apply. In the end, the crew of Midway were not made to abide by apartheid, Captain Hogle stating that "At Hartleyvale (Stadium) this afternoon and at the concert to-night, European and non-European members of the crew have been asked to attend. There will be no segregation whatsoever".

Modernizations

On 28 June 1955, the ship sailed for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where Midway underwent an extensive modernization program (SCB-110, similar to SCB-125 for the Essex-class carriers). Midway received an enclosed hurricane bow, an aft deck-edge elevator, an angled flight deck, and steam catapults, before returning to service on 30 September 1957.

Home ported at Alameda, California, Midway began annual deployments bringing McDonnell F3H Demons, North American FJ-4 Furys, Vought F-8 Crusaders, Douglas A-1 Skyraiders, and Douglas A-3 Skywarriors to the 7th Fleet in 1958, and into the South China Sea during the Laotian Crisis of spring 1961. During the 1962 deployment, Midway recorded her 100,000th arrested landing as the ship's aircraft tested the air defense systems of Japan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Midway again sailed for the Far East 6 March 1965, and from mid-April flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and South Vietnam, including the first combat use of AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-surface missiles. On 17 June 1965 two VF-21 McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom IIs flying from Midway were credited with the first confirmed MiG kills of the Vietnam conflict, using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles to down two MiG-17Fs. Three days later, four of Midways A-1 Skyraiders used the World War II vintage Thach Weave tactic to down an attacking MiG-17F.

Midway lost an F-4 Phantom and two A-4 Skyhawks to North Vietnamese S-75 Dvina surface-to-air missiles.

Midway returned to Alameda on 23 November to enter San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on 11 February 1966 for a massive modernization (SCB-101.66), which proved expensive and controversial. The flight deck was enlarged from , and the angle of the flight deck landing area was increased to 13.5 degrees. The elevators were enlarged, moved, and given almost double the weight capacity. Midway also received new steam catapults, arresting gear, and a centralized air conditioning plant. Cost overruns raised the price of this program from $88 million to US$202 million, and precluded a similar modernization planned for . After Midway was finally recommissioned on 31 January 1970, it was found that the modifications had worsened the ship's seakeeping capabilities and ability to conduct air operations in rough seas, which made further modifications necessary to correct the problem.

Return to Vietnam

Midway returned to Vietnam and on 18 May 1971, after relieving at Yankee Station, began single carrier operations. Midway departed Yankee Station on 5 June, completing the vessel's final line period on 31 October 1971, and returned to the ship's homeport on 6 November 1971.

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 , , and , began laying naval mines off North Vietnamese ports, including Thanh Hóa, Đồng Hới, Vinh, Hon Gai, Quang Khe, and Cam Pha, as well as other approaches to Haiphong. Ships that were in port in Haiphong had been warned that the mining would take place and that the mines would be armed 72 hours later.

Midway continued Vietnam operations during Operation Linebacker 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 , searched for the pilot of an A-7 Corsair II aircraft from Saratoga who had been downed the previous day by a surface-to-air missile about inland, northwest of Vinh. Flying over mountains, the HC-7 helicopter spotted the downed aviator with her searchlight and, under heavy ground fire, retrieved him before returning to an LPD off the coast. This was the deepest penetration by a rescue helicopter into North Vietnam since 1968. By the end of 1972, HC-7 Det 110 had rescued a total of 48 pilots, 35 in 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. The move allowed sailors to live with their families when in port; more strategically, it allowed three carriers to stay in East Asia even as the economic situation demanded the reduction of carriers in the fleet. CVW 5 became based at the nearby Naval Air Facility Atsugi.

For service in Vietnam from 30 April 1972, to 9 February 1973, Midway and CVW 5 received the Presidential Unit Citation from Richard Nixon. It read:

Aircraft from Midway made both the first MIG kills in the Vietnam War, and the last air-to-air victory of the war. On 17 June 1965, aviators of Midways Attack Carrier Wing 2, VF-21, had downed the first two MiGs credited to US forces in Southeast Asia. On 12 January 1973 a combat aircraft from Midway made the last air-to-air victory of the Vietnam War.

Operation Frequent Wind

On 19 April 1975, after North Vietnam had overrun two-thirds of South Vietnam, Midway, along with Coral Sea, Hancock, and , were sent to the waters off South Vietnam. Ten days later, U.S. 7th Fleet forces carried out Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon. For this, Midway, which had offloaded half of the ship's regular combat air wing at NS Subic Bay, Philippines, steamed to Thailand and took aboard eight U.S. Air Force CH-53 from 21st Special Operations Squadron and two HH-53 helicopters from 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. As Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces, these helicopters transported hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese people to Midway and other U.S. ships in the South China Sea.