Sara and I got a private tour of the decommissioned Aircraft Carrier the USS Midway today by our good friend Jonathan Pauley. Jonathan was a marine on the ship in the mid 80’s as an aircraft electrical mechanic.
Whenever Jonathan’s planes were on the ship he was also on the ship to keep them running, otherwise he was stationed at El Toro Marine Base.
You enter the ship in the hanger. This is where all of the planes are stored or worked on by the mechanics. It is massive and runs pretty much the length of the ship separated by fire doors in the center in case of a fire.
The Midway was in service from 1945 to the 1992 so there are aircraft on board to showcase the long history of the ship. Here are some prop planes from an earlier time. On the deck we will see more modern jets.
Here is Jonathan standing on a thick sheet of glass in the floor which shows the shaft used to bring up spare engines stored below deck. They had spare engines for all planes and they repaired them on the ship
This is a look at one of the main aircraft elevators used to move planes up and down from the main deck. They were then brought into the hanger to be stored or worked on. Interesting fact: All of the jet fuel was drained out of the planes right after they land on the deck to prevent fires if there is a crash or accident.
Flight Control was our next stop. It was up some very steep stairs and don’t forget to watch you head.
Flight control is where the Boss and Mini Boss manage the flight deck of the carrier during the daylight hours.
Jonathan explained that this clear board is where all of the happenings on the flight deck were written by a sailor trained to write backwards. Yes, that is right, this window was swung around to the bosses could read it and this sailor wrote backwards so they saw it correctly.
Here is what flight operations looks like from the flight deck.
Next onto the Ship’s Bridge where they navigate and steer the ship.
Sara is sitting in the GATOR chair (short for navigator) on the bridge. Just around the corner is where the captain sits and no-one sits in his chair.
Yes, this giant ship has a wheel to steer it like other sailing ships. Since the sailor steering the ship is in this room he is not steering by sight but by the gauges in front of him including a compass.
This is what the ships bridge looks like from the flight deck.
Next down onto the flight deck. Here is the view from the bridge toward the bow of the ship where the two catapults are located. The two jets are lined up in line where they would be catapulted off the bow of the ship.
All of the jobs involved in flight operations have a different color. Since Jonathan performed maintenance on planes he was clothed in green.
Jonathan’s jet was the F-4 Phantom.
Here you can see the F-4 Phantom on the flight deck.
Next to the Phantom, is the jet all Top Gun lovers will remember the F14 Tomcat, Sara is a big fan – you remember “Highway to the danger zone…” Since this ship was in use for such a long time, the aircraft on the ship continued to change as the jets were upgraded.
View of the stern of the flight deck with the skyline of San Diego in the background
Here is a view from the bow of the ship at the starboard catapult. Jonathan told us when jets were being launched the ship turned into the wind to give the planes more lift at they were thrown off the bow of the ship. Also that most pilots never experience the feel of a catapult takeoff until they were on the aircraft carrier because there is no way to simulate it on land.
The catapult on this ship is powered by steam. Well where does all that steam come from to throw a plane off the bow of the ship – right in this massive tanks. They produce the steam on board and jam it under pressure into these tanks so they are ready to propel the catapult.
So we all know that the military has a rank hierarchy. Lets apply that to living quarters and mess halls on the ship. Also notice the color of a floor tiles. As you move between rank areas of the ship and color of the tiles changes.
Lets start with the enlisted rank. They sleep in bunk rooms like this and each bed has an assigned locker for the sailors stuff
Each bunk also tips up to store “stuff” underneath it and has a curtain to close when sleeping. However these bunks are positioned all over the place where there is room so sometimes they are in a hallway and sometimes in a group setting like above. Notice that the tile floors are green.
The next step up are these bunks which actually have springs and are in an enclosed space with less people.
The next level up would be something like this room with a sofa that folds down into a bed where a wing commander would sleep and conduct this meetings and work.
All the way up to a Fleet Admiral who has a bed you can walk around and a private head with shower.
In addition this reception room and below…
a large meeting room to conduct business.
Enlisted sailors eat cafeteria style and Jonathan said the food is really good, especially on this ship. Officers have the option of the Officers mess where they can order off a menu and get served at a table. They do however have to dress to eat in this place – no work clothes allowed.
If you have seen Top Gun you probably remember the flight briefing room on the aircraft carrier. Yup they have several of these on board – here is one of them..
In the lower decks all of the operations and work of keeping the ship running get done. Like the laundry room…
The machine shop where they make stuff they need or breaks on the ship. They can’t pick it up from the hardware store.
The communications and radio room. Yes those copper tubes on the wall are those tubes like at the bank where the message goes in a case and gets zipped to anther location by vacuum pressure.
There always seems to be an analog backup to digital solutions on-board in case battle damage make the digital counterpart not work.
These are radio frequency knobs and yes people stood in here and knew just what to do.
Memorizing to look at isn’t it 🙂
Breaking ship rules would get you sent to the Brig like Sara here..
There is also a Chapel..
A full service dentist..
A full operating room with surgeons and doctors.
Naval and flight operations during the night were handled below deck in rooms like this which is like air traffic control at your nearest airport.
And then there is the anchor room – because this is a ship. This ship has two anchors which are to the right and left below outside the ship. There is a steam powered winch to pull it up on the far side of the room. Each link of the chain weighs in at 160lbs and there are 1000 feet of chain per anchor.
A view of the chain leading down to the anchor and the water.
Sara finished off the tour in the flight simulator which gave her the real life feeling of flying and spinning in a jet.
Thanks to Jonathan for a great tour of this amazing ship.
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