Commissioned eight days after the end of World War II, Midway was the largest aircraft carrier in the world until , as well as the first U. She operated for 47 years, during which time she saw action in the Vietnam War and served as the Persian Gulf flagship in 's Operation Desert Storm. USS Midway is the only retired aircraft carrier that is not an Essex -class aircraft carrier, as the rest have been scrapped. Bradford William Ripley, Jr.
Bolger in command. After shakedown in the Caribbean, Midway joined the U. Atlantic Fleet training schedule, with Norfolk as her homeport. From 20 February , she was the flagship for Carrier Division 1. In September , a captured German V-2 rocket was test-fired from the flight deck in Operation Sandy , the first large-rocket launch from a moving platform, and the only moving-platform launch for a V While the rocket lifted off, it then tilted and broke up at 15, feet 4, m.
On 29 October , Midway sailed for the first of her annual deployments with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Between deployments, Midway trained and received alterations to accommodate heavier aircraft as they were developed. On 23 June, as Cdr. George Chamberlain Duncan attempted a landing in BuNo , a downdraft just aft of the stern caused Duncan to crash. His plane's forward fuselage broke away and rolled down the deck, and he suffered burns.
Midway had an angled runway painted on the flight deck in May for touch-and-go landings following early trials of the technique aboard HMS Triumph. Successful demonstration of the possibilities caused widespread adoption of the angled flight deck in future aircraft carrier construction and modifications of existing carriers.
Midway left Norfolk 27 December for a world cruise, sailing via the Cape of Good Hope for Taiwan , where she became the first large carrier in the 7th Fleet for operations in the Western Pacific until 28 June Democratic senator Herbert Lehman sent a telegram to Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas when he learned of a supposed United States Navy plan to segregate non-white members of the crew of Midway while it was in Cape Town.
