My Visit to the USS Midway

An autobiographical look at my visit to the Midway.

The US Navy just recently celebrated its 250th birthday on Oct 13th, 2025. Heck, that’s a long time! I’m an Army Veteran myself and didn’t know much about the US Navy. I suppose I was vaguely aware of “Aircraft Carriers” throughout my life, but I never really thought about them and how important they were to the US Navy until I visited the USS Midway in San Diego back in November 2013. My boys were in Scouting and my son’s Cub Scout Pack arranged for an overnight stay on the USS Midway.

My son, Joey, aged 8, next to the Shooter

The Midway was designated to be built during World War II and had it’s first sea voyage was in 1945. Aptly enough it was named after the battle of Midway in the Pacific during World War II. The Midway’s designation is CV-41. CV stands for Carrier Vessel and 41 means it was the 41st Aircraft Carrier built in the US Navy.

The flight tower of the USS Midway at night with the 41 lit up

The ship last saw service in 1992. After it was decommissioned, it found a home in San Diego California as a museum. And what a museum it is!

I wish I would have written more at the time, as now my memories are a little dull. Thank goodness for the pictures I took. I believe we got there around late afternoon. Our tour guides took the Pack into the carrier and we met in a gathering area. Joey was one of the scouts picked to participate in the flag ceremony. We then climbed down to a lower floor and they served us dinner. After dinner we toured the aircraft carrier and learned that it was a little city of about 5,000-6,0090 personnel. They had a chow hall, quarters for the officers, a chapel , bunks for the enlisted, an engine room and we even saw the anchors. After that, we toured the catapult system used to launch the airplanes, then went up to the tower which monitored the aircraft. Everyone got to sit in the Air Boss chair.

It was late at night when our guides took us to the bunk area for our sleep over. The bunks were same used by sailors. To my surprise, the bunks were kinda small and kinda cramped. I wouldn’t be surprised if sailors had weight (and maybe height requirements) when it came to being on an Aircraft carrier. I pretty much took up all my bunk. Some of the “bigger” guys I knew reported an uncomfortable night’s sleep.

The next morning, our tour guides were there to wake us up and we had breakfast in the chow hall again. After that, we had a tour of the flight deck and learned a lot about what it takes to launch an airplane. They had a lot of vintage aircraft on the deck and we got to explore the planes.

We learned that a “Shooter” or Catapult officer is the one who points at the end of the flight deck and gives the pilot the “Go!” signal. The shooter has the ultimate responsibility of timing and safety to give the signal to “Go!” Both my boys had to get pictures next to the shooter.

My son, Andy, aged 11, next to the Shooter.

After our tour of the flight deck, we were free to roam around the museum area. I believe the museum area is where the CV would have housed the airplanes when they weren’t in use.

The Midway staff gave us all a patch and a nice certificate for attending the tour which was a nice keepsake and I can honestly say I learned A LOT about what it takes to operate an aircraft carrier. Would I do the tour again? I believe I would. I’d like to get a refresher on it. I also learned that there are a lot of old decommissioned vessels in US Harbors around the nation that act as museums. When we went to New England in April of 2022 we visited the USS Massachusetts, a decommissioned battleship now at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. Closer to home in San Pedro is the USS Iowa, which I would like to visit one day. Also, in Alameda is the USS Hornet, which I would like to visit as well.


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