A Look at the USS Midway, San Diego’s Best Tourist Attraction
No trip to San Diego is complete without a visit to the USS Midway Museum. Voted the top tourist attraction in San Diego by TripAdvisor.com, this naval museum is housed on the USS Midway, the longest-serving aircraft carrier of the past century. Decommissioned, this immense ship — a veritable floating city — now rests at Navy Pier in downtown San Diego. Here’s what you need to know about the ship and its must-see exhibits.
The Long Life of a Remarkable Ship
It sounds surprising, but the hulking USS Midway was built in less than two years — 17 months, to be exact. She is 968 feet long — more than three times longer than the Statue of Liberty’s height, or about the same length as the height of the Chrysler Building. As an aircraft carrier, Midway’s purpose was to serve as an airbase at sea, transporting aircraft and providing a runway where they could take off and land. She was the first in a class of three large carriers that were designed with an armored flight deck and the ability to carry as many as 120 planes.
Work on Midway began in October 1943 when her keel was laid down, and she was commissioned by the US Navy on September 10, 1945. Her name honored the Battle of Midway, a decisive 1942 naval battle during which the US Navy defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy near Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Because World War II had officially ended just one week before Midway’s commissioning, she never saw service during that conflict. Instead, she went on to serve in the Mediterranean Sea as part of a peacekeeping force and participate in NATO maneuvers in the North Atlantic before being deployed to the western Pacific.
Notably, the Navy relied on Midway for research and development during the Cold War. Innovative new flight deck procedures and the first fully automatic landing of an aircraft on a carrier were tested and successfully demonstrated on Midway. The ship was also the first American aircraft carrier to sail in the sub-Arctic in midwinter and the only ship to launch a German V-2 rocket that had been captured during WWII. This launch ushered in the era of naval missile warfare.
During the Vietnam War, Midway received her first combat mission launching aircraft to participate in strikes against North Vietnam. In 1975 the ship served as a base for US Air Force helicopters evacuating thousands of refugees during the fall of Saigon. Later, during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Midway was the main base for naval air operations in the Persian Gulf. The ship launched more than 3,000 combat missions with no losses.
Midway’s long years of service ended in 1991 when her final mission saw her evacuating civilians from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. By the time of Midway’s decommissioning the following year, a total of 225,000 US Navy personnel had served aboard the ship over the course of nearly 50 years. She sat in storage for a decade until she was converted into a museum and opened to the public in San Diego in 2004.
What to See on Midway
Midway has almost 10 acres of displays and exhibits, many of them interactive. Highlights of this massive floating museum include:
Hangar Deck
On display on this deck are several vintage warplanes, including an F4U Corsair, TBM Avenger, F4F Wildcat, SNJ Texan, and SBD Dauntless dive bomber. You can sit in the cockpits of some aircraft as well. In addition, you can tour the Command Information Center, where tactical commands and orders were given, and the anchor room, where you’ll see the massive anchor chains used to moor the ship. You can also visit the Battle of Midway Theater to watch a holographic film telling the story of this important WWII battle.
Flight Deck
The topmost Flight Deck is where Midway’s aircraft were launched. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to get a close-up look at 26 meticulously restored jet fighters, helicopters, and attack aircraft.
Docents — many of them retired Navy pilots — offer talks about the complicated takeoff and landing processes on the carrier. You can also take a docent-guided tour of the carrier’s island, the tower that rises above the flight deck and contains the command center for aircraft operations and the entire ship. The tours take visitors through these control rooms as well as navigational chart rooms, the captain’s at-sea cabin, and the captain’s bridge, where the carrier is steered. This tour is included in the cost of admission, but tour groups are limited in size.
Below Deck
In the belly of the ship, you’ll get a feel for what life was like for sailors serving aboard Midway. Tour the galley (kitchen) and the chow line, where more than 14,000 meals were prepared and served each day; walk through the Wardroom, the more formal space where officers dined and socialized; and explore the hospital bay and dental clinic. Further down inside the ship, below the waterline, you can tour the restored engine room and main engine control, which powered the massive carrier.
Planning Your Visit
The USS Midway Museum is located at Navy Pier, at 910 N. Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego. The pier offers parking for around $10 to $20, but metered parking is also available on nearby city streets.
Admission tickets are available for purchase online; online rates range from $22 for adults to $9 for children under 12. Discounts are available for college students, youth aged 13 through 17, retired military personnel, and seniors. Active duty military, law enforcement, and firefighters with appropriate ID get in for free.
The museum suggests setting aside three to four hours for your visit and wearing closed-toe shoes, as touring the carrier requires lots of walking and climbing ladders.
