The Advantages of a Midway Sized Super Carrier Over the $15 Billion Dollar Ford Class?

Smaller non-nuclear carriers can be very effective.

CV-41, The USS Midway in its final configuration 1992

Commissioned 8 days after the end of World War II, the USS Midway, CV-41, was the largest ship in the world until 1955, as well as the first U.S. aircraft carrier too big to transit the Panama Canal. During her 47 years of service, more than 200,000 Americans sailors and officers served aboard her. During her time the Midway saw action in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and numerous other conflicts, crises and actions. After being the first aircraft carrier forward deployed for 17 years in Yokosuka, Japan, she returned to North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego for decommissioning in April of 1992.

In her final form, the Midway displaced more than 67,000 tons at full load, about two-thirds the displacement of a Nimitz or Ford Class carrier. Yet, at 1001 feet in length she is 90 percent as long as our newest nuclear carrier. The Midway also carries the distinction of being the first supercarrier and was capable of carrying 65 to 70 modern aircraft. The Midway's 212,000 hp steam turbines (same engines as the Iowa Class battleship) could travel up to 15,000 nautical miles before needing refueling with a maximum speed of over 30 knots per hour. Of course standard Navy doctrine would have it refueling well before then to make sure it did not drop below 30 percent fuel reserves.

During the Gulf War the Midway had the highest sortie generation rate per number of planes carried of any carrier, nuclear or conventional, at 1.59 sorties per day per aircraft. The closest nuclear powered carrier was the USS Theodore M. Roosevelt (CVN-71), with 1.36 sorties per day per aircraft. However, the Roosevelt, with 22 more strike craft than the MIdways' 56, was able to generate 106 total sorties per day vs. the Midway's 89. Still for a carrier about 2/3 the displacement with 3 catapults vs. the Roosevelt's 4 catapults the Midway more than held its own.

So the Midway's evolution from the the largest World War Il Carrier to being a modern supercarrier was extremely successful and with an armored deck and excellent compartmentalization, the Midway was also a very tough ship.

But enough about the CV-41, the question before us is would the United States be better served building a number of Midway sized carriers going forward to complement the Nimitz and the Fords? Former Secretary of Navy John Lehman and architect of President Reagan's 600 ship Navy believes that there is a strong case to be