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NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive


© Thoralf Doehring. Used with permission.

USS MIDWAY   (CVB-41)
(later CVA-41 and CV-41)


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Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
1966 — 1992
SCB-101.66 modernization
Undergoing Modernization
CVA-41 + CVA-43 + CVA-19 + CVA-34
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Aerial view of the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point, sometime between April and July 1968. USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) and USS Hancock (CVA-19) are easily identifiable. Also visible in this photo are Midway (CVA-41), undergoing her SCB-101.66 modernization in the drydock just aft of Coral Sea, and USS Oriskany (CVA-34), undergoing an 8-month overhaul in the background.

Robert M. Cieri
CVA-41
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Looking east towards Hunters Point Navy Yard No. 4 Dry Dock in December 1968. The dock is being flooded in preparation to the undocking of USS Midway (CVA-41).

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, accession number HAER CAL,38-SANFRA,195A-15.

Mike Green
CVA-41
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496k

USS Midway (CVA-41) leaving Dry Dock No. 4 with the assist of tugboats during her modernization, December 1968. Photographer unknown. Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Drydock No. 4, San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, accession number HAER CAL,38-SANFRA,195A-16 (also HAER CA-181-A).

Bill Gonyo
Darryl Baker
CVA-41
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USS Midway (CVA-41), SCB-101.66 modernization, Hunters Point Naval Ship Yard, San Francisco, Ca., mid- to late 1969.

OS2 Allan H. Hirsch
CVA-41
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CVA-41
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USS Midway (CVA-41), SCB-101.66 modernization, Hunters Point Naval Ship Yard, San Francisco, Ca., December 1969.

OS2 Allan H. Hirsch
CVA-41
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USS Midway (CVA-41), SCB-101.66 modernization, Hunters Point Naval Ship Yard, San Francisco, Ca. Leaving dry dock, late 1969–early 1970.

OS2 Allan H. Hirsch
CVA-41
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USS Midway (CVA-41), mid-February 1970, just after recommissioning, Hunters Point.

OS2 Allan H. Hirsch
CVA-41
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Cover of the January 1971 issue of Technical News, the magazine put out by the Naval Ship Systems Command.

USS Midway (CVA-41) appears on her trials after her modernization at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, approaching the Oakland-Bay Bridge. Alcatraz is in the near distance. No other information nor article about her in the journal, just this interesting photo.

David Buell
After Modernization
CVA-41 Midway
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VADM Allen M. Shinn, COMAIRPAC, speaking at the Re-Commissioning Ceremonies of USS Midway (CVA-41) at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, 31 January 1970.

Darryl Baker
AO-30 + CVA-41 Midway
NS091903020
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USS Chemung (AO-30) refueling USS Midway (CVA-41), circa 1970, location unknown.

US Navy photo by PH3 A.N. Williams.

Robert Hurst
CVA-41 Midway
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Midway coming alongside Vega (AF-59), 1970s, place unknown.

Richard Miller, BMCS USNR Ret.
CVA-41 Midway
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Yokosuka, Japan, 1970s.

Richard Miller, BMCS USNR Ret.
CVA-41 Midway
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NAS Alameda, 1970s.

Richard Miller, BMCS USNR Ret.
CVA-41 Midway
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A Flight Deck Director signals an F-4 Phantom II fighter into position on the starboard catapult, in preparation for launching, 5 August 1970. Photographed by PH2 Kevin J. Freedman.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97635).

NHC
CVA-41 Midway
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Good view of the aircraft lift added to her starboard side forward of her island.

Note: This one and the photo below were probably taken within minutes from each other.

Doug McGriff
CVA-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CVA-41) underway in the Pacific Ocean, 19 April 1971.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (photo # KN-19524).

Scott Dyben
CVA-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CVA-41) underway in the Gulf of Tonkin during operations off North Vietnam, 5 June 1971.

Robert Hurst
CVA-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CVA-41), VERTREP with USS San Jose (AFS-7), South China Sea, October 1971.

This was Midway's first deployment (16 April–6 November 1971) after modernization. Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 was aboard.

Del
CVA-41 Midway
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CVA-41 Midway
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CVA-41 Midway
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CVA-41 Midway
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CVA-41 Midway
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139k At sea in the Western Pacific, 30 November 1974. Good overhead showing stern of Midway after her 1966-1970 overhaul: note 3 deck-edge elevators, two to starboard (forward and abaft the island) and one to port. F-4s, A-6s, A-7s, E-2s and an SH-3 are shown on the flight deck. USN
CVA-41 Midway
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VNAF Major Buang lands his Cessna O-1 Bird Dog on the deck of USS Midway (CVA-41) during Operation Frequent Wind.

"It was April 30, 1975. Rain had soaked the deck. The men of Midway were bringing order out of chaos. An armada of helicopters, flown by and filled with Vietnamese, flocked to the floating sanctuary. At one point a tiny silhouette appeared on the horizon, heading toward the carrier. It was soon identified as a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, used as an observation aircraft in the war."

"The diminutive plane circled Midway. The Vietnamese Major at the controls tried to toss a note to the flight deck. He failed twice. But on the third attempt he succeeded. Scribled on a torn nav chart was a crude but eloquent appeal:"

"Can you move these helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly 1 hour more, we have enough time to move.
Please rescue me.
Major Buang Wife and 5 child"

"On the bridge, Midway's C.O., Captain L.C. Chambers didn't wait long to act. He directed the flight deck crew to clear the landing area."

"Moments later the O-1 pilot turned into the groove and guided his craft, sans tail hook, toward the deck. He crossed the fantail, touched down, bounced, struck the ship again, rolled forward and stopped with plenty of room to spare."

(Quoted from Naval Aviation News magazine, July 1975 issue, pages 32–33.)

Robert Hurst
USS Midway (CVA/CV-41), 1975–1977. Photos submitted by Lawrence Mccray Edgarron,
via Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.)


CV-41 Midway
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Piedmont Pier, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. Midway at left.
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CV-41 Midway
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F-4N Phantom II, BuNo 150452 (NF201), VF-151 "Vigilantes," CVW-5. Three more F-4Ns in the background, two attached to VF-151 and one to VF-161 "Chargers." BuNo 151400 (NF200) is the closest of them.
1.07 Mb
CV-41 Midway
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Again, F-4N Phantom II, BuNo 150452. In the background, left to right: A-7A Corsair II, VA-93 "Blue Blazers" (until 1976) or "Ravens;" two F-4Ns, VF-151; F-4N, BuNo 151434 (NF104), VF-161 "Chargers." The C-2A Greyhound in the left foreground was not part of the Air Wing.
1.07 Mb
CV-41 Midway
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Passageway.
1.00 Mb
CV-41 Midway
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Underway.
1.13 Mb
CVB-41 Midway
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25k Small image showing Midway in her final configuration. USN
CVB-41 Midway
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35k Small image showing Midway in her final configuration. USN
CV-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CV-41) underway with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, circa 1979.

Museum of Military History, Kissimmee, FL
CV-41 Midway
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69k USS Midway (CV-41) operating with US and Australian ships in a joint exercise in the Indian Ocean, October 1979. US Navy photo [# 1176316]. USN
CV-41 Midway
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CDR Eugene F. Mitchell was assigned as commanding officer of Attack Squadron 93 (VA-93) "Ravens" (formerly "Blue Blazers") embarked aboard USS Midway (CV‑41), 22 June 1979–22 October 1980. In November–December 1979, in response to the seizure of the American Embassy and its staff by an Iranian mob, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Midway operated in the Arabian Sea.

Official photo, available from Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (id: DN-SN-82-06048).

Bill Gonyo
CVB-41 Midway
NS024110
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Excellent b&w image of Midway, as she appeared near the end of her career (1980+). Note the two aircraft elevators added to her starboard side, forward and abaft the island.

H. King
(EWC USN-RET)
CV-41 Midway
NS024117
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Photo taken in 1980 at Cubi Point, P.I., immediately before the collision with Panamanian freighter Cactus (see 0241aa).

Photo by Paul Jarvis
CV-41 Midway
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At 0720 CDT on 29 July 1980 USS Midway (CV-41) collided with the 450-foot Panamanian freighter Cactus while transiting between the Palawan Island and North Borneo, 450 miles southwest of the U.S. naval base at Subic Bay, the Philippines. There was no significant damage to the carrier (catwalks and deck supports on the port side were damaged, an elevator jammed and three holes were punched in the ship's hull plates) but several parked F-4J and RF-4B Phantom II aircraft on the flight deck were damaged. Two sailors were killed and three injured onboard Midway.

U.S. Navy photo taken on 31 July 1980.

Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (#DN-SN-84-03467)
CV-41 Midway
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Panamanian freighter Cactus, after collision with USS Midway (CV-41).

Chuck Cavanaugh, via Troy Prince, MidwaySailor.com
CV-41 Midway
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A port amidships view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) showing the damage resulting from a collision with the Panamanian freighter Cactus.

Defense Media Activity Center (DMA), # DN-SC-84-02490.

DMA,
via Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.)
CV-41 Midway
NS0241aab
710k

A port amidships view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) showing the damage resulting from a collision with the Panamanian freighter Cactus.

Defense Media Activity Center (DMA), # DN-SC-84-02491.

CV-41 Midway
NS0241aac
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A port amidships view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) showing the damage resulting from a collision with the Panamanian freighter Cactus.

Defense Media Activity Center (DMA), # DN-SC-84-02492.

CV-41 Midway
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A port amidships view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) showing the damage resulting from a collision with the Panamanian freighter Cactus.

Defense Media Activity Center (DMA), # DN-SC-84-02493.

CV-41 Midway
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A port amidships view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) showing the damage resulting from a collision with the Panamanian freighter Cactus.

Defense Media Activity Center (DMA), # DN-SC-84-02494.

CV-41 Midway
NS024164
197k Aerial port bow view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) underway in the Pacific Ocean, 2 March 1981, as crewmen on the flight deck form themselves to spell the words "HI MOM." (DVIC id: DN-SN-84-02495). Defense Media Activity Center (DMA)
CV-41 Midway
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124k Entering Subic Bay, Philippines, 14 September 1981. US Navy photo by PHCS Steven Harris. USN
CV-41 Midway
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113k A starboard quarter view of USS Midway (CV-41) underway, March 2, 1982. US Navy photo by PH1 Dave MacLean. (DVIC id: DN-SN-84-06202). Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
CV-41 Midway
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A port beam view of the aircraft carriers USS Midway (CV-41), closest to camera, and USS Ranger (CV-61), background, with the guided missile destroyer USS Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) and the combat stores ship USS San Jose (AFS-7), underway in the Philippine Sea, May 1982, during exercise Readex '82. US Navy photo by PH1 Barbante (DVIC id: DNSN8207484).

Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
CV-41 Midway
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A port quarter view of the aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) underway in the Pacific Ocean, 2 December 1982, while participating in Hong Kong Exercise Search and Rescue '82. The Midway was being used as a base of operations for aircraft involved in the exercise. US Navy photo by LT Douglas Dotson (DVIC id: DFST8309958).

Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
CV-41 + CV-43 + CVN-65
NS024331
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Photo taken on 13 April 1983, during exercise FleetEx 83-1, in the North Pacific Ocean. The three carriers are, clockwise from left, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS Midway (CV-41), and USS Coral Sea (CV-43).

Then LT Jim Petroski was aboard the Big E in the Reactor Dept., as RC division officer, and comments: "I spent some time up on the signal bridge during this photo op and got some great pictures of aircraft flying over us. Our air wing was the only one which could fly that day as the sea was quite rough—wave splashes were coming over the hurricane bow—and neither the Coral Sea nor Midway could launch/recover a/c. The frigate to starboard of "E" went up to 1/2 under in the waves, and the Coast Guard cutter to port came about 2/3 out of water. Quite a sight that day."

"The April 13 date sounds correct. We were crossing and re-crossing the international date line a lot at that time. So some days were 46 hours long, and others were 2 hours long. It was easy to forget what day it was!"

Darrell Young (RM3), USS Coral Sea, 1983-1987
CV-41 Midway
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USNS Navasota (T-AO-106) underway during a Replenishment at Sea of USS Midway (CV-41) and USS England (CG-22) in the Pacific, late 1983. US Navy photo.

James Furst Jr. IC2 USN
CV-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CV-41) steaming alongside USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), possibly in the North Arabian Sea on 16 April 1984.

MM2/P1-4MMR Mike Hiscano, USS Kitty Hawk,
via Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.)
CV-41 Midway
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140k USS Midway seen from the fantail of USS Lockwood (FF-1064) in the Sea of Japan, summer 1984. She was returning from the Indian Ocean. Photo by Steve Hadley
CV-41 Midway
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Air-to-air right side view of a Soviet TU-95 Bear-D aircraft with a US aircraft carrier, that appears to be USS Midway (CV-41), steaming below. Circa 1985, WestPac? Indian Ocean?

Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.)
CVB-41 Midway
NS024162
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"Aircraft Carrier Midway, modernization along program SCB-101." (From a Russian publication).

This drawing shows Midway's final appearance, in the second half of the 1980s-1992, with SPS-48C and SPS-49 radars, two 8-cell BPDMS launchers and Phalanx.

Alex Tatchin
CVA-41 Midway
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Booklet of General Plans, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, corrected to suit ship, 26 February 1987.

Courtesy of the Historic Naval Ships Association, via Curtis Tammany
CV-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CV-41) conducting an underway replenishment with battleship USS Iowa (BB-61), December 1987. Midway and Iowa were in the Persian Gulf as part of Battle Group Alpha. US Navy photo by PH2 Raszler. Defense Media ActivityDMA (DMA), photo # DN-SC-92-05313.

Bob Canchola, BT, USS Oriskany 1971–73
CV-41 Midway
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Another view, as above.

CV-41 Midway
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Crew members pose for a photo on the bow of USS Midway (CV-41), 16 December 1987, in the Arabian Sea. The photo was taken during the carrier's deployment to the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean, 15 October 1987–12 April 1988. Various aircraft of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 are visible on deck.

Ships in the battle group pictured are, left to right: the ammunition ship USNS Kilauea (T-AE 26), Midway, the combat stores ship USS White Plains (AFS‑4), the fleet oiler USNS Mispillion (T-AO 105), and the frigate USS Knox (FF-1052).

Photo by PH3 William Holck, USN. US Defense Imagery photo VIRIN: DN-ST-88-02563

Bob Canchola, BT, USS Oriskany 1971–73
CV-41 Midway
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5,000 feet above Midway, North Arabian Sea, February 1988.

Kelly Scherer, SFC, USA (Ret) (Former AO1)
CV-41 Midway
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Dolphin under Midway's Golden Anchor.

CV-41 Midway
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Battle Group Alfa, Persian Gulf, 1990.

Chester Morris, Midway Crew Member 1962-65
Battle Force Zulu: CV-41, CV-61, CV-66, CVN-71
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All four of the carriers sailing in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm—Battle Force Zulu—briefly steamed together in formation on 2 March 1991, after the cease-fire. USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) leads USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55)—starboard flank—, USS Midway (CV-41), USS Ranger (CV-61), USS Normandy (CG-60)—port flank—, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71)—starboard—and USS America (CV-66).

NS026192a: Photo by PH1 Galen L. Walker. Photo # DN-SC-91-06734.

NS026192b: Photo by PH1 Galen L. Walker. Photo # DN-ST-91-07574.

NS026192c: Photo by PHC Kris Kristofferson. Photo # DN-ST-91-07845.

NS026192d: Photo by PH1 Galen L. Walker. Photo # DN-ST-92-01394.

NS026192e: Photo from the America 1990–1991 Cruise Book, author unknown. Clockwise from top left: Midway, Theodore Roosevelt, America and Ranger.

Bob Haner
Battle Force Zulu: CV-41, CV-61, CV-66, CVN-71
NS026192a
133k National Archives
Battle Force Zulu: CV-41, CV-61, CV-66, CVN-71
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Battle Force Zulu: CV-41, CV-61, CV-66, CVN-71
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Battle Force Zulu: CV-41, CV-61, CV-66, CVN-71
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Battle Force Zulu: CV-41, CV-61, CV-66, CVN-71
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315k Robert Hurst
CV-41 Midway
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During Operation Fiery Vigil in 1991.

Photo by AMS3 Rick Rowan
CV-41 Midway + CV-62 Independence
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An overhead view of the flight decks of the aircraft carriers USS Independence (CV-62), top, and USS Midway (CV-41), bottom, moored beside each other, Naval Station Pearl Harbor, 23 August 1991. A great detailed photo, showing the various aircraft of their Air Wings. Midway was en route from Naval Station, Yokosuka, Japan, to Naval Air Station, North Island, California, where she would be decommissioned in the spring of 1992. Independence would travel to Yokosuka to take over as the Navy's only forward-based aircraft carrier. US Navy photo by PH2 Omar Hasan. (Available from Defense Visual Information Distribution Service as photo # DN-ST-9203042.)

Robert M. Cieri
CV-41 Midway + CV-62 Independence
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As above.

CV-41 Midway
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USS Midway (CV-41), Commanding Officer's Greeting, Captain Larry L. Ernst, 1991–1992.

Wolfgang Hechler

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Last update: 2 September 2023