The USS Midway Museum is the coolest floating museum in San Diego.
When I was growing up my dad was in the US Navy. From age 5 to 8 we lived in San Diego, where my dad was assigned duty on the USS Dixie, a destroyer tender. As a child, it was always a treat when we would get to go onboard my dad’s ship, eat dinner in the galley, then get to see the parts of the ship my dad worked in. This began my fascination with most things related to the military.
The USS Dixie was just a tiny ship compared to the behemoth midway-class aircraft carriers like the USS Midway. The Midway was the largest aircraft carrier in the world until the 1950s. It was also the first US aircraft carrier that was too big to transit the Panama Canal. The Midway has a lot of history to tell from its 47 years in service
Our biggest mistake when visiting the Midway was not arriving early enough in the day. We thought we would walk on the ship, see a few things, and be done. If this is your plan, I would suggest you reconsider. There are so many things to do and see on the Midway; some are included with admission and some are not. Even though we did not participate in the paid activities like the flight simulators, we still felt like 2 hours was not enough time
After arriving at the parking lot, we made our way to the entrance queue and were quickly onboard the Midway. The first area is the hangar deck. This is the area where the planes and helicopters are stored and is below the flight deck but above the below deck. The staff handed us a set of headphones which we donned like flight deck personnel, and we began the tour. The audio tour is narrated by people who served on the Midway and flew the planes they talked about. Don’t forget to walk out to one of the hangar elevators; they are massive! Also located on the hangar deck are the flight simulators, radio room, and gift shop
Once we finished our tour of the hangar deck, we had to choose between the flight deck and below deck. I was way more interested in the flight deck but some of our group headed down to the below deck. The below deck exhibits help illustrate how the Midway is like a huge floating city. In fact, when it was in service the Midway was manned by over 4,000 people. You can see the galley where non-officers ate, the wardroom where officers dined and socialized, the chapel, the sickbay and dental office, and the engineering bay which includes the engine room and engine control room. It was interesting how close-quartered everything was below deck even though the ship is humongous
As interesting as below deck is, the flight deck is where my interests were. The flight deck was where the planes and helicopters took off and landed. The flight deck is home to 26 restored carrier aircrafts including jets and helicopters. We arrived just in time to hear a presentation from a former pilot about taking off from and landing on the aircraft carrier. The pilots flying from carriers were certainly the brave ones, as the difficulties associated with the carrier are far greater than land based pilots encounter
As I said before, our biggest mistake was not allowing enough time to see everything and we missed some of the flight deck exhibits, like the pilot’s ready rooms and bridge. The nice thing about your ticket to the USS Midway Museum is that it will let you in the next day if you get your hand stamped before you leave
If you are worried about disability access to the museum, don’t; 60% of exhibits were ADA accessible. The only area not ADA accessible was below deck
If you are doing other things in the San Diego area it is worth looking into the Go San Diego card, which includes admission to the USS Midway Museum. Whether you use the Go San Diego card or not, don’t miss this opportunity to see what life is like aboard a floating city, and remember these ships were created to ensure the freedoms that all Americans enjoy.
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