USS Midway, San Diego, CA

Molly and Marina's 4th grade class went on a field trip to the USS Midway in San Diego and I was a chaperone.  It is a large naval ship with an air craft carrier on the top.  It was built in 1945 and commissioned as the largest ship in the world for a decade.  It cost $90 million dollars to build.  It was decommissioned in San Diego in 1992.  In 2004, it opened as a museum. There are a lot of old planes and helicopters on the top of the ship. Just below the runway at the top is the hangar that housed the planes.  There were aircraft elevators on the hangar level that lifted the planes to the top of the ship.  The elevator is now a cafe, but you can see the cables of the elevator lift.  When we were standing on the elevator lift, our guide pointed to another ship out in the bay.  It was being pulled out by two barges as it was getting ready to be deployed. I took a picture of this ship and the elevator from the aircraft lift.  It was also a naval air craft carrier and the planes were sitting on top of it. The guide said that it would probably be gone for 9 months.

Right next to the USS Midway is the famous kissing statue which is a statue of a famous picture took after World War II ended.  Here are some interesting facts about the USS Midway:

Crew: 4.500
Compartments:  2,000
Telephones: 1,500
Cooks:  225
Pilots: 200
Physians: 5
10 tons of food daily
13,500 meals served daily
longest deployment: 327 days.