The Midway Class Carriers (America's Tier 10)

[Jracule]

Midway Class

 

At the end of World War II, America launched one of the largest carrier designs of the Second World War. The only thing more impressive than the size of the ships would be their incredible service history, spanning almost 50 years. They traveled upon every ocean on the globe and embarked propeller to jet engine aircraft over their careers. They were known as the Midway class.

 

Development began in 1940. Designers sought to incorporate a armored flight deck onto a carrier similar to the Essex class. However, armor would greatly restrict the amount of aircraft able to be carried. Only roughly 50 aircraft would be able to carried compared to the 100 aircraft able to be carried by the standard Essex class. Designers then sought to create a carrier able to both support a large air wing and to have an armored deck. However, they found the armored deck to take up a lot of weight. The original Midway design was to have been equipped with a battery of 8in guns and dual 5in mounts. These had to be removed to provide the required amount of weight savings to permit a large armored flight deck. A new battery of 5" guns were used. The Midway class was also unique in having their armored flight deck be a part of the ships super structure. This is in contrast to the Royal Navy who used the flight decks of their ships as part of the ship's overall structure. The Midway Class had both an armored flight deck and a secondary strength deck at hanger level to provide structure.

 

Construction took place at two shipyards. USS Midway and USS Coral Sea were built at the Newport News Yards while the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt was constructed at the New York Navy Yard. Two of the vessels were laid down in 1943 and completed in 1945 while the Coral Sea followed in 1944 and was finished in 1947. Upon their completion it was found that the carriers could carry well over 120 aircraft. However, it was immediately found afterwards that it was nearly impossible to coordinate that many aircraft from one ship. The ships were found to be very crowded and cramped on the inside.

(Midway on cruiser right after her completion. Notice the large battery of 5"/54 guns)

 

On the other hand, the ships were large and very well protected. They were fairly fast and could carry a large assortment of the most modern aircraft. This attribute being largely responsible for the long service life of the class. Though the ships did not serve in World War II or the Korean War, they provided stellar service in the Vietnam war and many other actions. Over the course of their lifetimes, they constantly evolved. One such evolution involved the addition of an angled flight deck in 1955. After the modernization the ships now looked like this.

 

 

They almost met their end in the 1980s, but the election of President Ronal Regan and his 600 ship navy, saved the class from retirement. The lead ship, USS Midway, was not decommissioned until 1992 after providing service in Operation Desert Storm. Two of the class was scrapped but luckily one, the Midway, was rescued and currently resides as a Museum Ship.

 

Armament

Like most American Ships the Midway class was heavily armed. They are notable for being the first ship to use the 5"/54 guns. Originally designed for the Montana class battleships, the guns did not see use until 1945 with the midway class. They were similar to the popular 5"/38 guns but fired a heavier shell at a higher velocity. The guns had a range of 24km and an AA ceiling of 50,000ft. The Midway class carried 18 of these potent weapons. They can clearly be seen in the above photos.

 

Secondary firepower was provided  by the standard 20mm Oerlikons and 40mm Bofors. 28x 20mm weapons and 84x of the 40mm guns was carried. They were gradually removed from the ships and replaced with the even more powerful 3"/50 RF guns.

20 of these weapons were placed onto the carriers following modernization. A single gun was more effective than 8x 40mm Bofors guns, providing a potent AA ability. For a more detailed write-up of these weapons read this article. Eventually these weapons were all removed as the ships neared the  end of their service. The final weapons for the class included the 20mm Phalanx CIW and Sea Sparrow missile launchers.

 

A good feature of the Midway class was that all of the weapons were mounted below the main flight deck. This had the benefit of providing much better deck handling for aircraft. However, it also restricted the freeboard of the ships.

 

Airpower

Air Power was the category where the Midway class dominated upon their introduction. The large size of the ships enabled them to embark a huge number of aircraft. In addition, the size allowed for aircraft of larger sizes. Many late war Naval aircraft designs were actually based on the sizes allowed for by the Midway class. The ships initially carried the standard aircraft of the time including the Vought F4U corsair, Curtis Helldiver, and Grumman Avengers. However as the ships continued in service, they carried other aircraft. Some of the vehicles carried by the Midway over their lifetimes include:

• F9F Panther

• F-4 Phantom

• F-18 Hornet

• V-2 Rocket (Test fired from the deck in 1947)

• A Cessna O-1 Bird Dog (More on that in a later post)

• LTV A-7 Corsair II

• AV-8 Harriers

• Numerous Helicopters

• And many more

Armor

The Armor on the class was impressive. Compared the Britain, the US Navy did not embrace armored carriers for some time. However, the midway class changed a lot of that. The class had a fairly impressive armor layout with a 7.9in belt and a 3.5in deck. However, they would be the only US vessels to carry the unique arrangement of having the flight deck be part of the super structure. With later ships, the US incorporated the armored deck into the overall structure of the ship similar to the Royal Navy.

 

 

This concludes my topic on the Midway class. I tried to refrain from going into their later year history because that would carry them well beyond where World of Warships takes place in the time line. However, I look forward to raining destruction down onto the enemy fleet while using one of these babies. Especially if the Devs include some of the special aircraft designed just for the Midway (Hint Hint) As always, I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I liked making it. Let me know what you all think.  :Smile_honoring:

[Jracule]

Decided to do the interesting story on the USS Midway in its own topic. You can read the story here.

[Jracule]

Reserved for section of aircraft specifically designed for the Midway Class.

[brian333]

Midway was in the wrong ocean for me to see her when I served, but she and her sisters were damned fine ships. Well done.

[Wunderwaffen1945]

int....

[Jracule]

^{Added the story about the USS Midway, find it in the second post.  :Smile_honoring:}

[snoopy_jr]

Wow great work and great story!  You sure do your research.

[Jracule]

snoopy_jr, on 20 February 2013 - 04:59 PM, said:

Wow great work and great story!  You sure do your research.

Thank You! I pride myself on doing a majority of my posts as constructive as possible.

Will you be grinding towards the Midway class in the game?

[Tricericon]

Jracule, on 11 February 2013 - 12:52 AM, said:

Armor
The Armor on the class was impressive. Compared the Britain, the US Navy did not embrace armored carriers for some time. However, the midway class changed a lot of that. The class had a fairly impressive armor layout with a 7.9in belt and a 3.5in deck. However, they would be the only US vessels to carry the unique arrangement of having the flight deck be part of the super structure. With later ships, the US incorporated the armored deck into the overall structure of the ship similar to the Royal Navy.

Actually, ALL USN carriers that preceded the Midways had a superstructure flight deck. This, NOT the "armored flight deck" was the key difference between the big USN fleet carriers (Yorktown, Essex, Midway) and the somewhat dubious British "I" designs.

http://www.navweaps....ch/tech-030.htm

[sharlin648]

Magnificent as always.

[Jracule]

sharlin648, on 29 March 2013 - 07:58 AM, said:

Magnificent as always.

Thanks Sharlin,

I wish i could make some more topics, but tied up with university research and similar garbage at the moment.

Working on a project reevaluating the Panther / T-34 tanks and their influence on future tank design.

[Airbrake]

Sweet thanks for the info about the Midway class you shure do like ships ;p

[UmamiSalami]

Nice post. I visited the Midway once. My dad's hat got blown away into the ocean by the wind, that's the only thing I can remember.

[admarillstonewall]

Good job on the post

[pth159]

well the only aircraft carrier I need to see in this is Yorktown class and the USS Enterprise