Sunday, August 26, 2012

USS Midway Museum

During my trip to San Diego, I also visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum.
First put into service in 1945, it was the largest warship for a decade after its launch. It has been deployed around the world and decommissioned several times for upgrades. Two of her final missions included participating in Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait and evacuating military personnel and families in the Philippines after the eruption of the Mt. Pinatubo volcano, both in 1991.
In June 2004, she was opened as a museum.
In this picture is its flight deck with the tall tower as the carrier's bridge.

On the flight deck at over 4 acres in length, you can also see various jets like the Hornet, Tomcat, Phantom, ...etc.
Not to be missed if you are a aircraft-enthusiast.

At the stern is the Fantail Cafe where you can rest and enjoy your lunch.

On the hangar deck, is more planes, a gift shop, and various other exhibits.

If you think you are a hotshot pilot, you can pay an extra $15 on this simulator to try to land your jet on this aircraft carrier.

During operations, this mess hall can serve 13,000 meals a day. A single's day consumption can include 1,000 loaves of bread, 5,000 pounds of vegetables, 4,500 pounds of meat, ...etc.

This is the area where the soldiers will sit to eat their meals. It looks small, but since people work different shifts, I imagine this place is open 24 hours a day.
Senior officers have their own mess hall in another area.

In the Sick Bay, there are different medical facilities including this operating room.
The mannequins look so real that you think they are really performing surgery as you pass by.

It is a city within itself including a post office.
I can't imagine the incoming or outgoing mail moving around too quickly due to the remote locations the carrier have been deployed to.

There is even a tool shop where they can make their own equipment since it's not easy to go to your neighborhood store when something is broken in the middle of the ocean.

- Karen


9 comments:

rainfield61 said...

It is little a world by itself.

Anonymous said...

What an amazing ship, it's gigantic. So much to see and do!

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to use these ships.
I hope that the ship will not attack any countries again.

FilipBlog said...

We were also there, it was just fanastic, did you see the big chain for the ancher?

Greetings,
Filip

Jenny Woolf said...

A military ship is like a museum even when it is working, with so much to see and do. When it is out of commission, then it can be made into an "official " museum! :)

Sue said...

This from my brother who served on this ship, 1971 to 1972.
Worked on the Radars and built bombs.

There’s actually three crew mess halls with the biggest shown in the photo. Some weapons elevators were adjacent to this area and we actually assembled bombs in this deck space. During operations there was only one hour of the day we couldn’t get a meal.

betchai said...

beautiful shots of the midway, i have not been here since 2008 I guess, and I do not know if I missed it, but I can't remember seeing the exhibit like that at Sick Bay.

AVCr8teur said...

rainfield61: You can get lost in that little world.

llandudnopictures: There is an audio tour and you can stay there for at least half the day.

cocomino: This carrier will probably not be used in battle any longer, but a floating historic site.

Filip & Kristel: Unfortunately, we missed the chain. We got there a little late and saw everything at a very fast pace. We have seen chains on cruise ships so I would imagine this one is much bigger.

Jenny: You are so right. If only those walls can talk, what stories they will tell.

Sue: Thank you and your brother for that interesting information. We listened in on several of the volunteer docents who were former flight crews on-board. Fascinating stories they told and I am sure your brother have a few stories of his own.

betchai: It was my first time on-board. They might have changed the setup the last time you visited.

ArtandArchitecture-SF.com said...

I haven't toured the midway in ages, looks like I need to go back, lots of nice new improvements. Great job giving us a tour via photography. Thank you