The USS Midway and Navy Pride

Original post September 2018, and including excerpts from Military Service in the Abbott Family with Historical Highlights of the USS Midway by Kathleen C Mays and designed by Austin J Record.

First and foremost, I dedicate this writing to my father, Dale; my uncle, Lawrence; my uncle, Neal; my uncle, Wynn; and my oldest son, Christopher. I am also very grateful for the men and women who have served our country.

The USS Midway Museum

I have had the great opportunity to visit the USS Midway Museum three times in the last eight years. Each time, I was impressed by the staff, both paid and volunteer. The system they have created is very helpful to visitors and staff alike, with each paid staff person wearing one specific color of hat and each volunteer staff person wearing a different, specified hat color.

The digital tour guides are simply awesome! Even the little ones enjoyed our visit. I wasn’t surprised at how excited I felt to visit because my dad served in G Division on the Midway from 1958 to 1961.

Dad’s Stories

As a child, I loved hearing his stories about his enlisted time. A huge benefit of visiting the ship with my father was having our own personal tour guide and hearing even more stories from him about his Navy service. What really warmed my heart was seeing the excitement on his face and hearing the enthusiasm in his voice as he communicated his memories to us. Of the two uncles who served in the Navy, one served on the USS Coral Sea, and the other one served on the USS Samuel Gompers. Navy blood runs solidly through my veins with pride.

Her Beginnings

There is a lot of fascinating history connected with this amazing ship! Before I share some of my research, which will simply skim over the huge amount of information that is available for Her, I’d like to define the four celebrated events in a ship’s life; keel laying (laid down), launching, commissioning, and decommissioning. The USS Midway was laid down on October 27, 1943, by Newport News Shipbuilding Co. in Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on March 20, 1945, being sponsored by Mrs. Bradford William Ripley, Jr., commissioned on September 10, 1945, eight days after Japan surrendered, and decommissioned on April 11, 1992. Her stateside home ports were Norfolk, Virginia, and Alameda, California. (1)

A Battle Called Midway

She, our lady of the sea, was named after the significant Battle of Midway in June of 1942, only six months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. The U.S. Navy, under Admirals Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, and Raymond A. Spruance, defeated an attacking fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy north of Midway Atoll, inflicting devastating damage on the enemy. There is so much historical detail about this vessel that I recommend reading this Wikipedia article. The Battle of Midway was a crucial point of the war in the Pacific. (1)(2)

Outstanding Films

There are several movies about this battle, with one of the greatest being a documentary directed and produced by Rear Admiral John Ford, USNR, entitled “The Battle of Midway” featuring Henry Fonda as the narrator. In fact, speaking of movies, an incident on Midway’s deck on June 23, 1951, occurred, and footage of the crash has been used in several films, including “Men of the Fighting”, “Lady, Midway”, and “The Hunt for Red October”. As Commander George Chamberlain Duncan was attempting a landing, a downdraft aft of the stern caused him to crash. His plane’s forward fuselage broke away, rolled down the deck, and he suffered burns. During decommissioning in 1992, the Midway, its sailors, and their families were filmed for the movie “At Sea”, a documentary on carrier life which was shown only at the Navy Museum in Washington, D.C. (1)

Her Sea Faring Affairs

Some of the waters She sailed, although not in chronological order, were the Persian Gulf, the Pacific, the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait in the Northern Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Arctic Waters, the Indian Ocean, around Cape Horn, and the Arabian Sea. She was much too large to go through the Panama Canal. (1)(3)

Notable Details

She had 40 commanding officers in her career with Captain Joseph F. Bolger being the first. The USS Midway was the longest-serving aircraft carrier in the 20th century. She was actually the third American ship to bear the name of Midway. The first USS Midway was a fleet auxiliary whose name was changed to the USS Panay in April of 1943. The second ship was a jeep carrier whose name was changed to the USS Saint Louis, who sank on October 25, 1944 as the result of a kamikaze attack. (1)(3)

After Midway’s shakedown in the Caribbean, she joined the US Atlantic Fleet. A shakedown is a nautical term that is used pertaining to a ship’s first cruise before she enters service or after major overhauls to simulate working conditions, test performance and familiarize the crew with the new vessel. (1)

My Father’s Service

Let me interject for a moment. Although I have never served in the military, I can honestly say that I respect and honor those who have. My heartfelt thoughts are that if you make a difference for just one human being on this earth, then you are a hero in my eyes. Speaking of heroes, I have two: my father and my mother. Each one for different reasons, but heroes to me nonetheless.

Right now, I am proud to share with you some of the information shared with me by my dad. He served on the USS Midway from 1958 to 1961 under Captain J. T. Blackburn in 1958 to 1959, Captain J. H. Mini in 1959 to 1960, Captain  RW Cousins in 1960 to 1961, and did a WestPac cruise, visiting Hawaii, The Philippines, Guam, Yokosuka Japan, which was their overseas home port, and Hong Kong, to name a few.

The last few months of his service were spent on a pre-flight squadron at North Island while they were shutting down Brown Field as a military airfield. My father’s service happened to occur before the United States formally waged war against North Vietnam in 1964, although US involvement began as early as 1950 to aid the French. My father was not involved in any wartime conflict, albeit on the last leg of their tour, as they were heading stateside, they received orders to head to the Formosa Straits to assist with a conflict. They headed that direction, but the orders were cancelled before they arrived. (4)(5)(6)

Unusual Events In Her Career

In 1922, the Navy League of New York proposed an official observance day for appreciation of Naval service. They proposed the date of October 27th in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt’s birth date. Just so you know, this is still a celebrated day but it was not on my calendar. I entered it and will celebrate every year in gratitude. As it is suggested to be the “grandest commemoration of all”, on Navy Day in 1945, a seven-mile line of U.S. Navy warships anchored in the Hudson River and some 1,200 Navy planes flew overhead in commemoration of the event. This was the first Navy Day after World War II ended and it sounds spectacular! (7)(8)

Engaging Account

During my research, I came across this very entertaining story. I am not changing a word or any punctuation and I’d like to give appropriate credit to the source that I used: NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive.  Now for the story:

The USS Midway VA-25’s Toilet Bomb

“In October 1965, CDR Clarence J. Stoddard, Executive Officer of VA-25 ‘Fist of the Fleet,’ flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE572 ‘Paper Tiger II’ from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped.” “This bomb was unique because of the type… it was a toilet!” “The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraiderpilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965 [see NS024126, above].” “572 [BuNo 135297] was flown by CDR C. W. ‘Bill’ Stoddard. His wingman in 577 was LCDR Robin Bacon, who had a wing station mounted movie camera (the only one remaining in the fleet from WWII).” “The flight was a Dixie Station strike (off South Vietnam) going to the Delta. When they arrived in the target area and CDR Stoddard was reading the ordnance list to the FAC, he ended with ‘and one code name Sani-flush.'” “The FAC couldn’t believe it and joined up to see it. It was dropped in a dive with LCDR Bacon flying tight wing position to film the drop. When it came off, it turned hole to the wind and almost struck his airplane.” “It made a great ready room movie. The FAC said that it whistled all the way down. The toilet was a damaged toilet, which was going to be thrown overboard.” “One of our plane captains rescued it and the ordnance crew made a rack, tailfins and nose fuse for it. The squadron flight deck checkers maintained a position to block the view of the Captain and Air Boss while the aircraft was taxiing onto the catapult. Just as it was being shot off we got a 1MC message from the bridge, ‘What the hell was on 572’s right wing?'” (9)

A Sailor’s Life Aboard The Midway

I questioned my father about what life was like on board the Midway Magic, as she is nicknamed. He acknowledged that the food was actually quite good and filling, except for a dish they called “SOS”. I asked him what that stood for, and as he chuckled, he replied, “S**t On Shingles”. Well, Dad, I guess I asked! Actually, it is a term representing creamed chipped beef over toast, which apparently was served often.

Interestingly, I heard similar chuckles as I asked my very serious questions. For example, my question of “what did you do in your leisure time?” received his chuckle, a pause, and the answer of “I liked to go to the sponson deck and observe”. At this point, I decided to be more direct with my questions. One detail he did point out to me was that his sleeping quarters were midship, one deck below the hangar bay deck, and were the only berthing quarters with both port-side and starboard-side entrances. This area was shared with several Marines on board, serving as personnel control, running the brig, and assisting the Captain. (6)

Modernization

The Midway went through several different extensive modernization programs in her life. She also had three different designations, CV-41, CVB-41 and CVA-41. For those of us who have to look up the meaning of these codes, (yes, me) CV is Aircraft Carrier, CVB is Aircraft Carrier Large and CVA is Aircraft Carrier Attack. U.S. Navy aircraft carriers intended to operate with the main fleet were numbered in the “CV” series, which was originated as part of the cruiser (“C”) group of designations. During and after World War II, ships in the CV series were frequently given modified designations, including CVA (attack aircraft carrier), CVAN (nuclear-powered attack aircraft carrier), CVB (large aircraft carrier), CVL (small aircraft carrier), CVN (nuclear-powered aircraft carrier), CVS (anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier) and CVT (training aircraft carrier). All of these expanded designations were numbered in the original CV series. There are SO many details about this ship and it seems like the more I learn, the more I want to learn. (10)

Her Retirement

The Lady, Midway was decommissioned at Naval Air Station North Island on April 11, 1992 with Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as the main speaker. On September 30, 2003, Midway began her journey from the Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Bremerton, Washington to San Diego, California in preparation for use as a museum and memorial. She was docked in October at the Charles P. Howard Terminal in Oakland, California. The work on the Broadway Pier in San Diego was not finished and ready for her until January 10, 2004. She was moved and opened to the public on June 7, 2004 as a museum. In her first year of operation, she received 879,281 visitors which is double the expected attendance. (1)

My Captivation

To digest my thoughts at this moment, I am in awe and almost overwhelmed with the information that is out there ready for us to read and learn from. They now have a research library on the USS Midway Museum. They have a restaurant for hungry guests and a wonderful gift shop with lots of historical representing items. If anyone were to ask me if I would recommend going there for a visit, my answer would be an emphatic “H*** YES!”

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Resources

1. USS Midway Wikipedia Article, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Midway_(CV-41), accessed 12 September 2018
2. Battle of Midway Wikipedia Article, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway, accessed 27 January 2023
3. Midway Sailor, USS Midway CV-41, https://www.midwaysailor.com/midway/history.html, accessed 14 September, 2018
4. Collegiate Water Polo Association,  https://collegiatewaterpolo.org/john-t-blackburn-united-states-naval-academy-alumnus-water-polo-athlete-aviator-double-ace-founding-commander-of-the-jolly-rogers/, accessed 28 January 2023
5. Midway Sailer, USS Midway Commanding Officers, https://www.midwaysailor.com/midway/commandoff.html. accessed 15 September 2018
6. Naval Heritage and History, https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/aircraft-carriers.htm,l accessed 28 January 2023
7. Dale Cary Abbott, interviewed 11 September 2018
8. Military.com, https://www.military.com/navy-birthday/the-two-navy-holidays.html,  accessed 13 September 2018
9. National Naval Naval History Aviation http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/history-up-close/navy-day/, Aviat accessed 14 September 2018
10. NavSource Naval History,   http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/41.htm, accessed 27 January 2023
11. Image credit USS Enterprise (CV-6) Midway (CVB-41) and Augusta (CA-31) at anchor 1945.jpeg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)_Midway_(CVB-41)_and_Augusta_(CA-31)_at_anchor_1945.jpeg, accessed 13 February 2026
12. Image credit A-1H Skyraider of VA-25 with toilet bomb on USS Midway (CVA-41) in October 1965, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A-1H_Skyraider_of_VA-25_with_toilet_bomb_on_USS_Midway_(CVA-41)_in_October_1965_(NNAM.1996.253.2381).jpg
13. Image credit Meal On A United States Navy Ship, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/330-ps-8675-usn-1026546_16055826425_o.jpg
14. Image credit, DCA-MIDWAY L25 V3-600×400-280DPI, Dale C Abbott