San Diego - U.S.S. Midway

Yesterday in San Diego we toured the U.S.S. Midway one of the U.S. Navy's retired aircraft carriers. The ship was an impressive Engineering feat. It originally was designed as a a battle ship but was converted to an aircraft carrier because they were more effective in fighting battles. The ship was powered by steam using a both a high and low pressure turbine. Although both of the turbines spun at different RPMs, 4850 and 4500 respectively, and each had their own drive shaft they were able to be combined into one drive shaft for the propeller at a lower RPM using a complex gear box. The turbines could also be stopped and ran backwards for reverse. The aircrafts on the top deck also used a steam thrust to help them launch off of the carrier in the short distance provided. The planes would reach over 140 miles per hour in less than the length of a football field. Usually launching was done into the wind to assist in take off by creating lift on the wings. A few of us spoke to one of the veterans working on the ship. He told us that everyone had their own area on the deck that they were required to remain in. The average age on the flight deck was 18 years old, this was skewed by those that snuck into the Navy at even younger ages. He said that he had a lot of respect for them because of all that could have been going on at one time around them, stating that it was usually so loud you could hardly hear yourself think. They also had many of the aircraft that served on the Midway throughout the years. All of them had their own design that made them effective in the missions called for, some of them were built for speed others for maneuverability and they all contained a ton of gauges and electronics. The ship had a cafe and gift shop and was laid out in a way that you could pick and choose what areas you wanted to spend time at. The tour was a great learning experience from both an engineering and tourist perspective.

Proofed by Erin