European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 25, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Gazing nT,TT"., but id venerable Midway Natl Nettl standing � on of the Tun Tott Merit Long and most popular i too Navy the magic of the mighty. Midway by Bob Deans Cox news services High above Iho aquamarine Waters of the sea of Japan the a-18 Hornet makes a Graceful inc and Straightens out directly Oil he Stern of the massive aircraft Carrier same two Miles away to land Trio Hier Jet on the Carrier s deck the Pilot Lias to hit a Patch no larger than a Good sized living room. The wages of Lailure Range from an aborted Landing to a crash and Burn and the margin of error is gauged in inches and hat s we Chi you re going 160 Miles per tour and Ira ship s said it. Marlin o Loughlin. Who makes his living flying be is Oil the Midway. Forty three years old this tall and approaching retirement no Midway is Iho oldest of the us Navy s 14 aircraft carriers m s also the smallest. Thucie arc More sophisticated carriers there Aie ships Wilh More comfortable quarters Arri there arc certainly More convenient places to land a Jet. Bui the venerable Midway retains its standing As one o the hardest work Flag and most popular air Rall carriers in the Navy. Some Guys Ca l ii Midway said Seaman Robert w. Shaw aboard the Midway. I can t Lell you anything else for two years m u i Ujj the Midway has beaten out five other Pacific based earners As Iho Carrier Lavord by crewmen and of acc a. Pills like the ship As Well despite such drawbacks As a substantially spoiler Landing Bari than Mytr earners and recent Hull modifications that Nave caused the Midway to loll under certain conditions this ship has he conceded o Loughlin Bui tie said. To have a purpose Over Here and i think morale is really Good in this part of Iho reason Giorno Navy officials say is the kind of duty the Xiulan soca based in Yokosuka. Japan the Midway has made porn in Kenya Thailand. The Philippines and South Korea among other places just in Iho past 31 months. But the it daily Days Are numbered. White no of Fidel Date has been set for Moth along the Catt. The Midway is exp cled to be ii re Wilhm hires or our years. She has soon the last of hot Best Days retired rear adm. Eugene Carroll. The Midway s first skipper said in Washington. The Midway was can Lenud in 1945. Just As word War ii was ending. Twenty years Laler when the United slates stepped up air strikes Over Vietnam the Midway was Parl of Hie naval Lopicc staging Soulios from the Gulf of Tonkin. In 1965 alone. The Midway launched 11,000 aircraft missions Over Vietnam ten years alter Hal the Midway resumed 10 the Tonkin Gult in a very different capacity 10 assist in the massive evacuation of thousands of . And South vietnamese troops my Saigon during the final Days at . Involvement in Vietnam. Last fall inc Midway was deployed to the arabian sea from which Iho Carrier s cts provided Protection Lor .-flagged tankers carrying Oil through the persian Gull. In March the ship arrived in the sea of Japan to participate in join military exercises being conducted by . And korean troops in South Korea. Since then the Midway has resumed to Yokosuka for maintenance and equipment upgrades expected to Lake several months. It was two years ago Hal the Midway underwent extensive modifications including the installation of special blisters on its Hull Tho blisters were designed to increase the vessel s bouy Oncy so Hal it could carry additional equipment Bui Iarj modifications impaired the ship s stability in some types of seas causing the Crall to Roll against Waves coming at a certain frequency while Navy officials had hoped the modification would extend the Midway s usefulness. Carroll called the alteration an ill conceived modification that has no double hastened her retirement the ship s commanding of Liccar. Cap. Richard a Witson said Hal the problems Wilh the ship have been grossly exaggerated in inc to acknowledged however that the ship would Roll under certain conditions and said that collecting the situation was 3 High priority we do need to gel that modification taken care Wilson said on an aircraft earner you want to be As monday april 25. 19bb steady As possible any motion at All can become a Midway s Landing strip is roughly boo feel Long less than one tenth the length of most land based strips used lot Landing jobs. When a Jet lands on a Carrier in must touch Down on a narrow band of the strip so Iho plane can Snag a steel Cable Hal Jolls Iho Jet to a halt on inc Midway. The Larrol area is about id feet Long and 20 feet wide substantially smaller than to Taigel area on Rotnor Navy carriers surprisingly pilots stationed aboard the Midway Don t grumble about this distinction publicly Al least bul have instead turned it Inlo a Point of Pride. These Are probably the beef pills in lha Navy said it. Kyle Kelley. Point my out that comparatively it a pills have the expertise to Nix hate Consi Lenl landings in such Light quartets thl Ngi Are snug Bolow decks As Well John Carter. A 19-year-Otd airman trom Russellville by. Sleeps in m bunk barely 2vi Leet wide his bunk is one no a dozen just like it crammed into a Puco about tie size of a walk in closet. If he tries to raise ins head hell Burn Inlo he underside of the Midway s Ili Ghl deck la s just like living underneath an said Shaw. You Ever been Al a cons Duclion Sile when they re loading rocks in a dump asks Caincr. Describing the ambience of this quarters even so. Carter Rolls with the punches you got used to in very last he said. Ii the Midway s Crew is forgiving of the vessel s shortcomings others have nol been so kind Hunce Hie Navy s plans to retire the Crall Congress has approved funding for two new earners that would be commissioned by the mid 1990s proponents of the new earners which would Cost in estimated 13.4 billion apiece claim they Aie needed to Ollet the growing naval Power of the soviet Union. The proponents among them Vicc president and Republican presidential hopeful George Bush contend that ships such As the Midway have demonstrated it Cir Ellec Livenais in Proie cling military might quickly and Elf clively a
