Midway class aircraft carrier

	USS Midway sailing through the Western Pacific in November 1974.
Class overview
Builders:	Newport News Shipbuilding; New York Navy Yard
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Essex class aircraft carrier
Succeeded by:	United States class aircraft carrier and Forrestal class aircraft carrier
In commission:	10 September 1945 – 30 November 1998
Planned:	6
Completed:	6
Retired:	6
Preserved:	6
General characteristics
Displacement:	45,000 tons (1940s); 64,000 tons (1980s); 70,600 tons (1990s)
Length:	1,003 ft (305.7 m)
Beam:	113 ft (34 m)
Draft:	33 ft (10 m)
Propulsion:	Steam turbines; 212,000 shp
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h)
Complement:	4,104
Armament:	Original armament: ; 18 × 5 in/54 caliber guns; 21 × quad 40 mm Bofors gun; 28 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannon; Refit armament: ; 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers; 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Armor:	Belt: 7.6 inch; Deck: 3.5 inch
Aircraft carried:	Up to 130 (1940s); Up to 100 (1960s); Up to 70 (1990s)

The Midway-class aircraft carriers were six very heavy large aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. The lead ship, Midway, was commissioned in late 1945 and was taken out in 1992. The other five sister ships Franklin D. Roosevelt, Coral Sea, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal were decommissioned in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively. They were the largest aircraft carriers ever built by the United States during the 1940s, and the first aircraft carriers to be reclassified as supercarriers.

History

The CVB-52 class aircraft carriers (then unnamed) were originally conceived in 1940 as a design study to determine the effect of including an armored flight deck on a carrier the size of the Essex class aircraft varrier. The resulting calculations showed that the effect would be disastrous for air group size. The resulting ship would have a maximum air group of 45, compared to 90–100 for the standard Essex class fleet carriers. As a result, the concept went to finding a larger carrier which could support both deck armor and a sufficiently large air group. Unlike the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers, for which the armored deck was part of the ship structure, the Midway class retained their "strength deck" at the hangar deck level and the armored flight deck was part of the superstructure. The weight-savings needed to armor the flight deck was acquired by removing a planned cruiser-caliber battery of 8-inch (203 mm) guns and reducing the 5-inch antiaircraft battery from dual to single mounts. They would be the last USN carriers to be so designed; the size of the Forrestal-class supercarriers would require the strength deck to be located at flight deck level.

The resulting carriers were very large, with the ability to accommodate more planes than any other carrier in the U.S. fleet (30–40 more aircraft than the Essex class). In their original configuration, the Midway-class aircraft carriers had an airwing of almost 130 aircraft. Unfortunately, it was soon realized that so many planes was beyond the effective command and control ability of one ship.

While the resulting ships featured excellent protection and unprecedented airwing size, they also had several undesirable characteristics. Internally, the ships were very cramped and crowded. Freeboard was unusually low for such large carriers. In heavy seas, they shipped large amounts of water (only partially mitigated by the fitting of a hurricane bow during the SCB-110/110A upgrades) and corkscrewed in a manner that hampered landing operations.

None of the class went on war cruises during the Korean War. They were mainly deployed to the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. During the 1950s, all six ships underwent the SCB-110 modernization program, which added angled decks, steam catapults, mirror landing systems, and other modifications that allowed them to operate a new breed of large, heavy naval jets.

All six of the Midway class made combat deployments in the Vietnam War. Coral Sea and Lake Superior were deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin six times, Normandy and Guadalcanal deployed on four occasions, Midway deployed on three occasions, and Franklin D. Roosevelt made one combat deployment before returning to the Mediterranean.

In the late 1960s, Midway underwent a massive modernization and reconstruction program, which proved to be so controversial and expensive that it was not repeated on the other ships. By the 1970s, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Coral Sea, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal were showing their age. All three retained the F-4 Phantom II in their air wings, being too small to operate the new F-14 Tomcat fleet defense fighter or the S-3 Viking anti-submarine jet. In 1977, Franklin D. Roosevelt underwent an extensive reconstruction. On her deployment, Roosevelt embarked Hawker Siddeley Harrier to test the concept of including VSTOL aircraft in a carrier air wing.

Coral Sea, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal were rescued from imminent decommissioning by the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Reagan's proposed 600-ship Navy gave the remaining ships a new lease on life. Coral Sea, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal underwent extensive refits to address the ship's poor condition. When the F/A-18 Hornet became operational in the mid-1980s, the Navy quickly deployed them to the Midway, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Coral Sea, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal to replace the older F-4s. A 1986 refit for Midway removed her 6" armor belt and bulged her hull to try to increase freeboard. While successful in this regard, the bulges also resulted in a dangerously fast rolling period that prevented Midway from operating aircraft in heavy seas. The bulging were therefore not repeated on Coral Sea, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal.

The Reagan Era reprieve would not last indefinitely. In 1995, Coral Sea, which had long since earned the nickname "Ageless Warrior", was decommissioned. Franklin D. Roosevelt was decommissioned little over a year after Operation Desert Storm in 1993. Midway had one final war in which to participate, and was one of the six aircraft carriers deployed by the U.S. against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. A few months after the campaign, the lead ship of the class was finally decommissioned. The three final ships, Normandy, Lake Superior and Guadalcanal were decommisioned and put out of action in 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively.

General characteristics

USS Franklin D Roosevelt, after reconstruction (1990s)

Displacement: 70,600 tonnes
Length: 1,003 ft (305.7 meters)
Beam: 137 ft (34.4 m) at waterline; 236 feet (72 m) at flight deck
Draft: 35 ft (10.7 meters)
Armament: 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Power: 212,000 hp (158 MW)
Drive: 4 screws; geared turbines
Aircraft: 70

USS Coral Sea, after reconstruction (1990s)

USS Coral Sea (CV-43) — USS *Coral Sea* (CVB-54), 1986.

Displacement: 70,600 tonnes
Length: 1,003 feet (305.7 meters)
Beam: 137 ft (34.4 m) at waterline; 236 feet (72 meters) at flight deck
Draft: 35 feet (10.7 meters)
Armament: 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Power: 212,000 hp (158 MW)
Drive: 4 screws; geared turbines
Aircraft: 70

USS Midway, after reconstruction (1990s)

USS Midway (CV-41) — USS *Midway* (CVB-52), 1991.

Displacement: 70,600 tonnes
Length: 1,003 feet (305.7 meters)
Beam: 137 ft (34.4 m) at waterline; 238 ft (72.5 m) at flight deck
Draft: 35 feet (10.7 meters)
Armament: 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Power: 212,000 hp (158 MW)
Drive: 4 screws; geared turbines
Aircraft: 70

USS Normandy, after reconstruction (1990s)

Displacement: 70,600 tonnes
Length: 1,003 ft (305.7 meters)
Beam: 137 ft (34.4 m) at waterline; 236 feet (72 m) at flight deck
Draft: 35 ft (10.7 meters)
Armament: 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Power: 212,000 hp (158 MW)
Drive: 4 screws; geared turbines
Aircraft: 70

USS Lake Superior, after reconstruction (1990s)

Displacement: 70,600 tonnes
Length: 1,003 feet (305.7 meters)
Beam: 137 ft (34.4 m) at waterline; 236 feet (72 meters) at flight deck
Draft: 35 feet (10.7 meters)
Armament: 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Power: 212,000 hp (158 MW)
Drive: 4 screws; geared turbines
Aircraft: 70

USS Guadalcanal, after reconstruction (1990s)

Displacement: 70,600 tonnes
Length: 1,003 feet (305.7 meters)
Beam: 137 ft (34.4 m) at waterline; 238 ft (72.5 m) at flight deck
Draft: 35 feet (10.7 meters)
Armament: 2 × 8-cell Sea Sparrow launchers, 2 × Mark 71 mod 0 Phalanx CIWS
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Power: 212,000 hp (158 MW)
Drive: 4 screws; geared turbines
Aircraft: 70