Bookable
Built at the end of the war
Named after the Battle of Midway, the ship’s keel was laid at Newport News, Virginia, on 27 October 1943. She was launched on 20 March 1945 and commissioned on 10 September 1945, eight days after the surrender of Japan, too late to see combat in the Second World War. She was the largest aircraft carrier in the world until 1955.
Vietnam and the Pacific
Midway aircraft served in the Vietnam War. On 5 October 1973 the ship arrived at Yokosuka in Japan, the first complete carrier task group to be based in a Japanese port. On 29 April 1975, she took part in Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon, and a South Vietnamese pilot, Major Lý Bửng, landed a small Cessna O-1 on her deck.
From the Gulf War to a museum
On 17 January 1991 Midway launched the first carrier strikes of the Gulf War. She was decommissioned on 11 April 1992, after 47 years of service, the longest-serving U.S. aircraft carrier of the 20th century. Towed to San Diego, she opened as a museum on 7 June 2004.
