Displacement: 45,000 tons length: 968 feet beam: 113 feet draft: 35 feet speed: 33 knots complement: 4,104 crew armament: 18 5-inch guns, 84 40mm guns, 68 20mm guns class: Midway

 

The third Midway (CVB-41) was laid down on 27 October 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.; launched on 20 March 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Bradford William Ripley, Jr.; and commissioned on 10 September 1945, with Capt. Joseph F. Bolger in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Midway joined the Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk as her homeport. From 20 February 1946, she served as flagship for CarDiv 1. In March, she tested equipment and techniques for cold weather operations in the North Atlantic. A highlight of her east coast and Caribbean training was Operation Sandy in September 1947, where she test-fired a captured German V-2 rocket from her flight deck, marking the first such launch from a moving platform.

On 29 October 1947, Midway sailed for her first annual deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, acting as a powerful extension of sea/air power. Between deployments, she trained and received alterations necessary to accommodate heavier aircraft.

From 26 to 29 May 1952, the feasibility of the angled deck concept was demonstrated on a simulated angled deck aboard Midway by pilots from the Naval Air Test Center and the Atlantic Fleet. Midway also participated in North Sea maneuvers with NATO forces and was redesignated CVA-41 on 1 October 1952.

Midway cleared Norfolk on 27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope to Taiwan, where she joined the 7th Fleet on 6 February 1955 for operations in the western Pacific. This was the first deployment of her class in the western Pacific. Midway remained with the 7th Fleet until 28 June 1955 when she sailed for overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where she was out of commission until 30 September 1957 for modernization, including an enclosed bow and an angled flight deck.

Homeported at Alameda, Midway began annual deployments with the 7th Fleet in 1958. On 8 December 1958, VF-64 based aboard Midway conducted the first firing of a Sparrow III air-to-air missile by a squadron deployed outside the U.S. She was also on duty in the South China Sea during the Laotian crisis in the spring of 1961. During her 1962 deployment, her aircraft tested the air defense systems of Japan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

The carrier continued as a research and development platform. On 13 June 1963, Lt. Cmdr. Randall K. Billins and Lt. Cmdr. Robert S. Chew Jr., piloting an F-4A Phantom II and an F-8D Crusader, respectively, made the first fully automatic carrier landings with production equipment on board Midway off the California coast. These landings, made "hands off" with both flight controls and throttles operated automatically by signals from the ship, highlighted almost ten years of research and development.

When Midway sailed for the Far East on 6 March 1965, her aircraft were prepared for combat operations, and from mid-April, they flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and South Vietnam. On 17 June 1965, while escorting a strike on the barracks at Gen Phu, North Vietnam, Cmdr. Louis C. Page and Lt. Jack E. D. Batson, flying F-4B Phantoms of VF-21, intercepted four MiG-17s and each shot down one, scoring the first U.S. victories over MiGs in Vietnam.

Returning to Alameda on 23 November 1965, she entered the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard on 11 February 1966 for extensive modernization, for which she was placed in Reserve, in commission special, on 15 February 1966. She was recommissioned on 31 January 1970 following a four-year conversion-modernization at the shipyard. Midway returned to Vietnam and, on 18 May 1971, after relieving USS Hancock (CVA 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, returning to her homeport on 6 November.

Midway, with embarked Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW 5), again departed Alameda for operations off Vietnam on 10 April 1972. On 11 May, aircraft from Midway and other carriers continued laying minefields in ports significant to the North Vietnamese. Ships in Haiphong port were 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 from Midway conducted a search and rescue mission for a downed aviator in North Vietnam. Despite heavy ground fire, the helicopter successfully retrieved the pilot, marking the deepest penetration of a rescue helicopter into North Vietnam since 1968. By the end of 1972, HC-7 Det 110 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. This move had strategic significance, facilitating the continuous positioning of three carriers in the Far East.

Midway, along with other carriers, responded on 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. Seventh Fleet forces, evacuating hundreds of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese to waiting ships after the fall of Saigon. One South Vietnamese pilot landed a small aircraft aboard Midway, bringing himself and his family to safety.

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 by North Korean guards on 18 August. Midway's response was in support of a U.S. demonstration of military concern vis-à-vis North Korea.

Midway relieved USS Constellation (CV 64) as the Indian Ocean contingency carrier on 16 April 1979, maintaining a significant American naval presence in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. On 18 November, she arrived in the northern part of the Arabian Sea in connection with the ongoing hostage crisis in Iran. Militant followers of Ayatollah Khomeini seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on 4 November and held 63 U.S. citizens hostage. Midway was joined by USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and their escorts. Midway was relieved by USS Coral Sea (CV 43) on 5 February.

Following a period in Yokosuka, Midway relieved USS Coral Sea on 30 May 1980 on standby south of the Cheju-Do Islands in the Sea of Japan. On 17 August, Midway relieved USS Constellation to begin another Indian Ocean deployment and complement the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) task group. Midway spent a total of 118 days in the Indian Ocean during 1980.

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, rescuing all 17 people aboard and bringing them safely to the carrier.

Midway continued serving in the western Pacific throughout the 1980s. 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 against further invasion. On 1 November 1990, Midway was again on station in the North Arabian Sea, relieving USS Independence (CV 62). On 15 November, she participated in Operation Imminent Thunder, an eight-day combined amphibious landing exercise in northeastern Saudi Arabia. As the United Nations set an ultimatum deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, Operation Desert Storm began on 16 January 1991. Midway and other carriers launched sorties and Tomahawk missiles against Iraqi forces. President Bush declared Kuwait liberated on 27 February, and Operation Desert Storm ended at midnight.

Midway departed the Persian Gulf on 11 March 1991 and returned to Yokosuka. In August 1991, she returned to Pearl Harbor, turning over duties to USS Independence (CV 62) and sailing to San Diego. Midway was decommissioned at North Island Naval Air Station on 11 April 1992 and was stricken from the Navy List on 17 March 1997. On 30 September 2003, Midway began On 30 September 2003, Midway began her journey from the Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Wash., to San Diego where she will be a museum and memorial. She was docked at the Charles P. Howard Terminal in Oakland, Calif., during the first week in October while the construction of her pier in San Diego was completed. The carrier was towed from Oakland to San Diego, and arrived on 5 January 2004. She docked at the Naval Air Station North Island to load historic aircraft for display. She will be part of a major museum devoted to carriers and naval aviation.