From: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS, Vol. IV (1969), p. 355.

CVB-41

 
Displacement:  59,901 t. (fl)
Length:  972'
Beam:  113'
Extreme Width:  136'
Draft:  34'6" max
Speed:  33 k.
Complement:  4,104
Armament:  18 5"; 84 40mm; 68 20mm
Aircraft:  137
Class:  Midway

[These specifications were taken from Conway's All The World's 
Fighting Ships, 1922-1946, p. 106 as those from the DANFS were 
clearly in error.]

The third Midway (CVB-41) was laid down 27 October 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.; launched 20 March 1945; sponsored by, Mrs. Bradford William Ripley, Jr.; and commissioned 10 September 1945, Capt. Joseph F. Bolger in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, MIDWAY joined in the Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk her homeport. From 20 February 1946 she was flagship for CarDiv 1. In March, she tested equipment and techniques for cold weather operations in the No rth Atlantic. East coast and Caribbean training was highlighted by operation "Sandy," in which in September 1947, she test fired a captured German V-2 rocket from her flight deck, first such launching from a moving platform.

On 29 October 1947, Midway sailed for the first of her annual deployments with the 6th Fleet, mighty peacekeeping force in the Mediterranean. A powerful extension of sea/air power, Midway trained between deployments and received alteration s necessary to accommodate heavier aircraft as they were developed. In 1952, she participated in North Sea maneuvers with NATO forces, and on 1 October was redesignated CVA-41.

Midway cleared Norfolk 27 December 1954 for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope for Taiwan, where she joined the 7th Fleet for operations in the Western Pacific until 28 June 1955 when she sailed for overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Ship yard. Here, she was out of commission until 30 September 1957, while she was modernized and such new innovations as an enclosed bow and an angled flight deck were installed.

Homeported at Alameda, Midway began annual deployments with the 7th Fleet in 1958, and was on such duty in the South China Sea during the Laotian crisis of spring l961. During her 1962 deployment, her aircraft tested the air defense systems of Ja pan, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Taiwan. When she again sailed for the Far East 6 March 1965, her aircraft were prepared for combat operations, and from mid-April flew strikes against military and logistics installations in North and South Vietn am. Illustrative of the major contribution the carrier made to the campaign of the free forces to repel Communist aggression was a notable "first" for aviators of her Attack Carrier Wing 2, who in June, downed the first three MIGs credited to U.S. Forces in Southeast Asia. Returning to Alameda 23 November, she entered San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard 11 February 1966 for extensive modernization, for which she was placed in Reserve, in commission special, 15 February 1966. She is scheduled for recommiss ion in January 1970.

Transcribed by Michael Hansen
mhansen2@attbi.com