USS Midway to Become San Diego Museum

Yahoo News ^ | 1/05/04 | SETH HETTENA

[Libloather]

USS Midway to Become San Diego Museum
53 minutes ago
By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer

SAN DIEGO - The storied aircraft carrier USS Midway is headed for a permanent home along San Diego Bay's Navy Pier as the nation's biggest museum devoted to carriers and naval aviation.

Tugs are pulling the 74,000-ton decommissioned warship from a naval graveyard off Washington state where the Midway has spent the past 10 years. The ship is due in a few days and, once outfitted with aircraft and other memorabilia, will become the San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum, with a spring opening planned.

The Midway will be the nation's fifth and largest aircraft carrier museum. The others are the Intrepid in New York; the Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, S.C.; the Lexington in Corpus Christi, Texas; and the Hornet in Alameda, Calif.

Museum backers raised $8 million and spent more than a decade clearing regulatory hurdles.

"Someday, we'd like to be talked about in the same breath as Sea World and the zoo," said Scott McGaugh, a museum spokesman. "It's remarkable to think San Diego has almost a 100-year history with the Navy and yet has no naval aviation museum."

The Midway was the world's largest warship when it was launched in March 1945, less than six months before the Japanese surrender in World War II. The ship got its name from the Battle of Midway, the turning point of the Pacific war in which U.S. forces defeated a Japanese fleet in 1942 near the mid-Pacific atoll.

The Midway served three combat tours in Vietnam and launched warplanes over Iraq in 1991. The ship saw many firsts, including the first jet takeoff from a carrier and the dawn of naval missile warfare when a captured German V-2 rocket was launched from its deck.

The Midway was decommissioned in 1992 as the longest-serving carrier in U.S. Navy history. About 200,000 sailors and airmen called the Midway home over the years.

On the Net:
www.midway.org

[StatesEnemy]

I'd rather see the brave souls of the USS Liberty get their due.

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[VOA]

The Midway was decommissioned in 1992 as the longest-serving carrier in U.S. Navy
history. About 200,000 sailors and airmen called the Midway home over the years.

Heck, that's a pretty good-sized "fan base".

[Wings-n-Wind]

This is great news... thanks for this post.

[mgstarr]

Glad to see you don't have an agenda....... It's the Jews again right?

[Atheist2Theist]

Good News, I am certainly glad that it wasn't scrapped..

I served on the U.S.S. Midway (CV-41) during the Iranian Hostage Crisis and this was the first of four carriers I was stationed on. We were on our way to Australia when the hostages were taken in Iran and so we were the first carrier to arrive in the area of the Indian Ocean known as Gonzo Station. It was an old carrier even then, but had a good crew and was in good condition since we were forward deployed at Yokosuka, Japan and we were constantly at sea.

[Clintons Are White Trash]

Any idea where I could find information on the Midway, particularly Captains that served on it?

Thanks!

[Libloather]

10/10/90 - 04/17/91 Desert Storm

08/10/91 USS Midway departs Yokosuka, Japan for the last time

08/22/91 USS Midway arrives at Pearl Harbor after a brief stop at Midway Island.

09/14/91 USS Midway arrives at San Diego after a stop in Seattle to pick up dependent children for a Tiger Cruise.

04/11/92 USS Midway (CV-41) officially decommissioned at San Diego Naval Station.

[StatesEnemy]

I just want an admission and an apology - too much to ask, eh?

[#3Fan]

Lyndon Johnson is dead, how are you going to get an apology?

[StatesEnemy]

Amazing, if it was ANYONE but the Jews, you'd be agreeing with me... but somehow they CAN DO NO WRONG.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

I served on the U.S.S. Midway (CV-41) during the Iranian Hostage Crisis

That makes two of us. Small world!

[#3Fan]

Amazing, if it was ANYONE but the Jews, you'd be agreeing with me... but somehow they CAN DO NO WRONG.

If it's all the Jews fault why did Johnson try to cover it up?

[StatesEnemy]

I have no idea, but I've heard the words of the survivors that state IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that the Israeli's knew DAMN WELL they were firing on an AMERICAN SHIP in INTERNATIONAL WATERS.

[MJM59]

Great to hear. There should be more of this type of restoration and display for some of these old ships. They served well and can serve as a source of education everyone.

[#3Fan]

Yes and if they were totally unjustified Johnson would've said so. Bad leaders get soldiers killed and Johnson was a bad leader. US troops killed thousands of Iraqi soldiers because they had a bad leader. Should Bush apologize for that?

If Johnson would've come out at the time and demanded restitution for the incident then I would agree that an apology would be necessary. But the fact that Johnson covered up the incident proves to me there is more to the story, especially considering Johnson's crookedness. More details need to be known before we place total blame on the Israelis. I betcha that crook Johnson was up to no good and it got some of our sailors killed.

[#3Fan]

If Johnson would've come out at the time and demanded restitution for the incident then I would agree that an apology would be necessary.

Make that: If Johnson would've come out at the time and demanded restitution for the incident then I would agree that an apology would probably be necessary.

[commish]

Uh, hello! This is a thread about a great warship being given a rightful honor as a floating museum.

if you want to discuss the Liberty incident, bash Jews, defend Jews, bash johnson or whatever --take it somewhere else please!

[RightWinger]

USS Yorktown (CV-10) in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum

http://www.patriotspoint.org/