She's headed to San Diego, the ol' Midway Maru. I'll be there next June when they open her up as a museum. I hope they kept some of those BK doors intact (great paintings)!
More than half again as heavy as the Hornet, the Midway was the namesake for the last class of carriers developed during World War II. Japan surrendered before the Midway went on active duty, but the ship served three tours during the Vietnam War and led the air bombardment of Iraq during the first Gulf War.
The Midway was based in Alameda from 1958 through the Vietnam War.
It was later home ported in Japan, and one of its main tasks was showing American force in the Far East.
It's hard to believe she had her keel laid down in the closing months of WWII, and served as a ship of the line until after the first Gulf War, and we never had water hours (at least when I was on her)!
posted by Jo Fish on 12.29.03 at 05:55 PM
Comments:
The Oriskany is due to become an artificial reef in 2004, and the Gulf off Pensacola is one of the locations in the running.
Named for the Revolutionary War battle fought near my hometown, Oriskany, New York, the "O" was supported by the village residents.
If they drop it off the coast, I am honor bound to record the event and ship the tape back to the village museum which contains many artifacts from the ship and hosts reunions for the crew.
posted by: Bryan on 12.29.03 at 10:54 PM [permalink]
Hey, shipmate -
When were you aboard the Midway? I was there from 85 to 88.
I've been following it's progress from the first efforts a few years ago to get it out of the mothball fleet here in Bremerton back down to San Diego.
posted by: pfc on 12.30.03 at 08:52 AM [permalink]
Water hours refers to water rationing. On ships that use boilers (most of the older ships), the ship's evaporators make both boiler water and potable (now *that's* debatable ). If the evaporators were getting old or were not very efficient, boiler water took priority, and water hours was declared over the 1MC (intercom), restricting primarily showering (no bathtubs on USN vessels).
Hopefully, I haven't oversimplified this too much -- I spent some time on older destroyers and 1052 frigates that seemed to have evaps from the time of Ishmael and Ahab .
posted by: smaug on 12.30.03 at 09:13 AM [permalink]
OMG, Jo! If you were on the mighty Warship Midway from 83-86 we were most probably riding the ship together when I rode her from Subic Bay to Hong Kong back when I was a JAG (we were doing some admin discharge boards while underway because the Midway's legal officer's ideas of what constituted caseload management left a lot to be desired, and he needed to get a whole bunch of boards over with in a short period of time).
You should have come down to the legal office and said hello to me; that was probably the best chance we'll get to strike up a FTF acquaintance.
I hate to say that you *probably* just missed me. I was stationed at NLSO Subic Bay from summer of '83 to May or June of '85 (took most of June/July of '85 as leave and then reported to NAMARA-JAG in Washington in late July of '85). I rode the Midway from Subic to Hong Kong fairly late in my tour there, either late '84 (Nov-Dec) or early '85 (Jan-Mar). So it depends, but if you reported aboard Midway in the early months of '85 it's possible we met.
