Summary
- The USS Midway is one of the largest preserved naval warships in the world and is the largest preserved aircraft carrier, serving for 47 years.
- The USS Midway belonged to the Midway-class, succeeding the Essex class, and underwent significant modernization over her lifetime.
- The USS Midway Museum in San Diego offers visitors the chance to explore the carrier, along with over 30 restored aircraft and various exhibits and displays.
The United States has five aircraft carriers preserved as museums and many battleship museums preserved all around the country. The United States is home to most of the largest preserved naval warships in the world. Four of the aircraft carriers are Essex-class carriers while the fifth and largest is the USS Midway (she is also the largest preserved warship in the world).
The USS Midway is one of the newer major surface combatants to be preserved as a museum (the oldest is the USS Constitution — a frigate that was one of the very first ships built for the US Navy). Here's what travelers should know about visiting the world's largest carrier museum
What To Know About The USS Midway
The USS Midway was the lead ship of her class, the Midway-class. This was the class of carrier that succeeded the Essex class (they were in turn succeeded by the Forrestal class in the 1950s). The Navy built three Midway class carriers (the USS Midway, the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the USS Coral Sea).
- Class: Midway-Class
- Displacement: 45,000 tons at commissioning, 64,000 tons at decommissioning
She was substantially altered and modernized over her lifetime. Most notably she received an angled flight deck and the USS Midway that retired was much heavier than the USS Midway that was initially commissioned. It would be difficult to recognize her as the same ship.
She had been developed in the age of propeller-driven aircraft, but by the end of the Second World War, the jet age had dawned. This left carriers like the venerable USS Enterprise obsolete and other carriers had to be adapted to survive in the new age (it's a pity the USS Enterprise was scrapped and not preserved).
The Half-Century Career Of The USS Midway
The USS Midway was built during World War Two but arrived too late to take part in the war. She was commissioned only eight days after the surrender of Japan to the victorious Allies (the Japanese surrendered on the USS Missouri — an Iowa-class battleship now a museum in Pearl Harbor).
- Service: 1945 to 1992
- Wars: Vietnam War & Operation Desert Storm
The USS Midway was the largest warship in the world for ten years until 1955. She was too big to fit through the Panama Canal and was in service for 47 years, seeing the Cold War through from start to finish.
In her long career, USS Midway participated in operations in the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm in 1991. She was decommissioned right after the Gulf War in 1992.
Planning A Visit To The USS Midway Today
She is the latest and (likely) final US aircraft carrier to be preserved as a museum. There was some debate about making the mothballed Kitty Hawk-class carriers into museums. But in 2022, the Navy scrapped these two supercarriers.
They were the last of the conventionally-powered carriers. All current carriers are nuclear-powered making them unlikely to ever be preserved as museums.
Today the USS Midway is a museum ship berthed in San Diego at the USS Midway Museum. The museum is one of the top things to do while in San Diego.
- Location: USS Midway Museum, 910 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101
- Opening Hours: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (last admission 4.00 pm)
- Days Open: Every Day (closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day)
Admission Fees:
- Adult: $31.00 (Ages 13 and over)
- Youth: $21.00 (Ages 6 to 12)
The ship is massive, so it is recommended to spend at least half a day (three to four hours) exploring.
It is permissible to leave and return on the same day the admission ticket.
Explore the ship from her main engine room, to her hangers, to her bridge. Discover where the crew lived and worked on her and the lives of the 200,000 servicemen and women who served on her over her long career.
There is more than just the carrier to see at the USS Midway Museum. The museum has over 30 restored aircraft (after all what is an aircraft carrier without aircraft?) and almost 10 acres of exhibits and displays.
The hangar is decked out with 20 restored World War Two aircraft (and visitors can even climb into some of their cockpits). Many of these aircraft were built in Southern California.
While the USS Midway herself didn't participate in the Battle of Midway, learn about the pivotal battle after which she is named at the Battle of Midway Theater. There are other things to enjoy aboard the USS Midway from guided tours to flight simulators.
Not all warship museums in the United States are large vessels, there are naval museums to explore from humble tug boats to mighty battleships.