USS Midway (CV-41)

USS Midway (CV-41)

USS Midway steaming off the Firth of Clyde in September 1952.
History
United States
Name	Midway
Namesake	Battle of Midway
Ordered	1 August 1942
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding
Laid down	27 October 1943
Launched	20 March 1945
Commissioned	10 September 1945
Decommissioned	11 April 1992
In service	1945
Out of service	1992
Stricken	17 March 1997
Nickname(s)	Midway Magic
Status	Museum ship at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, California
Notes	Only carrier museum in the United States from WWII-era that is not of the Essex class
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Midway-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	45,000 tons at commissioning 64,000 tons at decommissioning
Length	1,001 ft (305 m)[1]
Beam	121 ft (37 m) 136 ft (41 m), 238 ft (73 m) at flight deck after modernization
Draft	34.5 ft (10.5 m)
Propulsion	12 boilers, four Westinghouse geared Steam turbines[2]
Speed	33 kn (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Complement	4,104 officers and men
Armament	As Built: 18 × 5 in (127 mm)/54 caliber guns 21 × quad 40 mm Bofors gun 28 × twin 20 mm Oerlikon cannon After Refit: 2 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 Phalanx CIWS
Armor	Portside Belt: 7.6 inch Starboard Belt: 7 inch Lower Edge and Upper Belt: 1.96 inch Flight Deck: 3.5 inch Hangar Deck: 2 inch Main Deck: 2 inch
Aircraft carried	137 theoretical, 100 (1940s–50s), 70 (Vietnam–retirement)

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 warship 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, and is the only remaining inactive U.S. aircraft carrier that is not an Essex-class aircraft carrier.