Carol flew to San Diego on Tuesday for a long July 4 holiday. We are staying in a hotel ashore and yesterday played tourist and visited the USS MIDWAY which has been docked here since her decommissioning in 1992.
I was of course impressed by her size. Though modern aircraft carriers are bigger, when launched in 1945 the MIDWAY was the biggest ship in the world.
I was also impressed by the complexity of operating the ship and meeting the needs of a crew of 5,000, and by the intricacy of launching and retrieving the airplanes. Former Navy pilots gave presentations on the flight deck of both procedures.
Differences in accommodation were interesting, from the Admiral’s spacious suite to the restricted bunk and stowage space of the ordinary seaman, who as you would expect me to observe had considerably more comfort than I on board GANNET, which is as it should be.
Today is July 4, Independence Day. Carol and are going to GANNET later, perhaps Torqeedo/sail in Mission Bay, and stay through the evening to see what fireworks we can.
This is an American holiday, but I wish all of you Independence.