USS MIDWAY

We had a chance while we were down in San Diego over the last weekend to spend the morning on Saturday visiting the USS Midway Museum.  The Midway is an aircraft carrier that was built from 1943 to 1945 and was actually commissioned into use two weeks after WWII ended.  It is named after the Battle of Midway, but did not actually participate in it.  What an awesome experience we had touring this ship.  There is an audio tour and then parts of the ship actually have docents, most men who served in WWII, who will give information and talk about  how things worked, and answer any questions.  We were fascinated, and can't wait for an opportunity to take our grandsons there!  Here are a few pictures we took.

This was our first sight from the parking lot:

A control panel in one of the engine rooms:

Weapons (unarmed, I hope) loaded onto a plane on the flight deck.  There are lots of different types of planes and helicopters on the flight deck, many that you can get into.

Another shot of the flight deck with all the different aircraft:

An example from a talk from a docent we heard to learn how an aircraft lands and takes off from a carrier,  and the men and women who serve on the flight deck and the roles they play.  FASCINATING!

Another shot of the flight deck and the aircraft on it.  Gave me such a new perspective of how the men and women who served on this aircraft carrier sacrificed every day for this country's freedom!

The view of the bridge area from the flight deck.  We got to go on a docent guided tour of the bridge and learn about the men/women who serve in those capacities from the commanding officer to the aircraft commander to the navigator, etc.  This was before the days of computers, so everything was done visually and manually, so amazing!

From the flight deck we could look to the opposite side of the harbor and see the modern day aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vincent, at dock for repairs.  A docent explained to us that the Vincent is the carrier from which Bin Ladin's body was buried at sea.

What a great opportunity to visit this awesome historical ship.  I am so grateful to the men and women of the military who have and still do keep our country free.  It is amazing to think that this ship was built during the days of WWII and in only two years!  We spent three hours wandering through learning all about life onboard during the years the USS Midway operated as a commissioned ship in the US Navy.