Steve Andres was the featured speaker at the January 28th program meeting - his topic was the "U.S.S. Midway Museum." There were 35 in attendance. Steve discussed the history of the ship and the features of the current museum anchored in San Diego Bay (see http://www.midway.org/).
The U.S.S. Midway (CV-41) is a "retired" aircraft carrier - commissioned in 1945, built in Newport News in 18 months, refitted several times, and decommissioned in 1991. It was brought to San Diego in 2004 to be a museum on San Diego Bay rather than being destroyed.
The Midway was the first steel-deck carrier. It started as a 45 thousand ton warship without an angled deck, and was refitted in 1955 with an angled deck, and again in the 1960s to bring it up to a 75 thousand ton warship. The U.S.S. Midway was homeported around the world, including Norfolk, Virginia, Yokosuka, Japan, and Alameda, California. It played a major role in the Viet Nam War, Cold War, Desert Storm, and humanitarian missions, especially in the Philippines. The Wikipedia article about the Midway is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Midway_(CV-41).
As a museum, it is supported by museum members, gate ticket receipts, and donations. There is a large number of volunteers who act as docents, providing information to visitors and as tour guides, in addition to maintaining and improving the ship and the onboard aircraft. There are 60 exhibits, 27 aircraft, movies, and more. Visitors can take a self-guided audio tour to learn about the U.S.S. Midway. The attendance has increased each year, and the museum had 1.2 million visitors in 2014.
The Midway Museum has several educational programs - overnight sleepovers, day programs for 2nd to 8th graders, and evening programs for adults, with dinner attendance up to 5,000 persons.
This was an interesting slide presentation, and Steve's humor and information was excellent. He answered many questions about the ship's history and the features of the U.S.S. Midway Museum.
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