ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The USS Midway (CV-41) (formerly CVB-41 and CVB-41). CVA-41) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy and the type ship of the Midway class. She was the third ship to bear the name USS Midway. The USS Midway, which entered service a few days after the end of World War II, took part in the Vietnam and Gulf Wars. From 1973 to 1991, it was stationed as an advanced aircraft carrier in Yokosuka, Japan. Due to numerous modifications and modernizations, the aircraft carrier was greatly changed in its appearance during its service period – from the straight-deck carrier in 1945 to the first angle deck in 1957 and the cantilevered flight deck in 1970. In April 1992, Midway was transferred to the reserve fleet after nearly 47 years of service. Since 2004 it has been open to the public as the USS Midway Museum in San Diego.

Technology

Torso and propulsion
At its entry into service in 1945, the USS Midway was the largest warship in the US Navy, with a length of 295.2 meters above all and a width of 41.5 meters and was the first ship too wide for a passage of the Panama Canal. The hull was based on the battleships of the Montana class. Through conversions, their length increased to 303.8 meters and the width to 72.5 meters. The design displacement was 45,000 ts in 1945, the operational displacement was about 60,000 ts. Due to the conversions in the following years, the displacement increased to 64,200 ts. The draught was 10.9 meters. The Midway was the aircraft carrier with the strongest armor and was the first US aircraft carrier to have an armored flight deck. This change was based on the experience of the Japanese kamikaze attacks in World War II. The thickness of the deck armor was 76 mm, the armor in the waterline was 203 mm thick. The hull was divided into more than 1750 watertight compartments, the bulkheads were also up to 203 mm thick. The Midway thus had passive safety and leak protection measures like a battleship of the same size. During his entire period of service, however, the wearer tended to pronounced rolling and slinging movements due to the design-related and even increased top plasticity due to the various modifications.

The Midway was driven by four geared turbines, which drew their steam from twelve steam boilers. The four propellers, each measuring 4.58 meters, carried a total output of 212,000 hp (155 MW) and brought the carrier to a top speed of 33 knots. The range was between 4500 nautical miles at top speed and 14,000 nautical miles at 13 knots.

Armament and electronics

In 1945, Midway had the strongest pipe armament ever housed on an aircraft carrier. It consisted of 18 individual guns in caliber 5 inches (127 mm), which had a pipe length of 6.85 m with their 54 caliber lengths. The guns were mounted in towers below the deck edge to prevent flight operations