The USS Midway

The USS Midway is a former United States Navy Aircraft Carrier that is now permanently moored in the Port Of San Diego and open to the public as a museum. Commissioned in September 1947,  the Midway saw active service in both the Vietnam and 1st Gulf Wars (Desert Storm). Her dimensions are impressive, The ship is 1001ft long (That`s about the length of three football pitches), the height of a 20 storey building and weighs 70,000 tons! The Midway carried upto 4500 Sailors, (Only men ever served on the Midway) and 80 aircraft. Decommissioned in 1992 after 47 years of service, she was eventually opened as a museum in 2004 and now attracts over 1.5million visitors per year.

Entry to the Midway costs $31 per adult and $21 for a child, 5`s and under go free. If you are currently a serving or reservist military personnel, police officer or firefighter you are eligible for free entry and any veteran of these services qualifies for a $10 discount on their ticket price, this includes, quite generously UK forces veterans! You can also purchase annual passes and family passes. All tickets are cheaper if you purchase them in advance online.

We did the usual tour, it took us most of the morning to make it around this vast ship, but we were treated on the day of our visit with a chance to meet with an Atomic Bomb test witness from Bikini Atoll and US Navy veteran, Ray Snyder. A really nice chap that recounted some of his military service tales. Ray was 92 at the time! Tracey especially had quite a conversation with him. We went through the main areas of the ship, you can see the main hanger areas, follow a trail that takes you through the accommodation areas and shows you some interesting stuff like the gas propulsion system that slingshots the planes from the deck. You also get close to the anchor winch and can climb up into the bridge and runway control tower.

You eventually surface from the ship onto the main deck where there is quite a collection of ex-military aircraft including a Top Gun F-14 fighter jet. Its nice having a walk around in the sun after being contained within the ship,and also being able to see the much more modern Nimitz Class Supercarrier, the USS Carl Vinson, that is moored across the bay when it is at home.

A visit to the Midway is a really great experience, we thoroughly enjoyed ours. We couldn't believe how big was, even the more modern supercarriers aren't that much bigger. The General Ford, the worlds biggest carrier is only 91ft longer! of course this is powered by a Nuclear reactor. If you are in San Diego we would recommend a visit. We had arranged to be picked up in San Diego to go over the boarder to Mexico and Great White shark diving in Guadalupe island so that's another story on our diving pages.