USS Midway Museum1,001-foot aircraft carrier on Navy Pier, 30+ restored aircraft, the longest-serving U.S. Navy carrier of the 20th century

USS Midway (CV-41) was commissioned September 10, 1945 — eight days after Japan's surrender, named for the June 1942 battle that turned the Pacific war. At commissioning she was the largest ship in the world: 1,001 feet long, 212,000 horsepower, a crew of 4,500 living in a steel city at sea. She served 47 years across Korea, Vietnam (the first carrier to launch combat sorties from Yankee Station), the 1979 Iranian hostage standoff, and Operation Desert Storm — flying 3,339 sorties over Iraq from January to February 1991.

Decommissioned April 11, 1992 in San Diego, towed to Navy Pier in January 2004, and opened as a museum on June 7, 2004. Today the 4-acre flight deck holds 30+ restored aircraft tracing 80 years of naval aviation — the F-14 Tomcat made famous by TOP GUN (the 1986 film was filmed at NAS Miramar across the bay), the F/A-18 Hornet, the SBD Dauntless dive-bomber type that sank four Japanese carriers in five minutes at the actual Battle of Midway, and the SH-60 Seahawk helicopter. Below deck the audio tour walks galleys, officer's country, the chief's mess, sleeping bays for 4,500, and the chain locker that held two 30-ton anchors.

Plan four to five hours minimum. Arrive at opening (10:00 AM) — the docent ranks include 700+ Midway veterans who actually lived and worked these spaces, and the morning shift gets the most ship time. Park on Navy Pier ($15 winter / $20 summer for six hours) or take the MTS Trolley to the American Plaza station (5-minute walk). Comfortable closed-toe shoes are essential — the ladders between decks are real Navy ladders, not stairs.