Midway-class aircraft carrier

The Midway class was a class of three United States Navy aircraft carriers, Midway, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Coral Sea, with three more ships cancelled before completion. They were the first American carriers designed with an armoured flight deck, shaped by what the Navy learned from British armoured carriers hit by bombs in 1941, and at about 45,000 tons standard displacement they were the largest carriers afloat when built. Their hangars were split into five fire compartments, and their beam was too wide for the Panama Canal. The lead ship, Midway, was commissioned in September 1945, eight days after Japan surrendered, so none of the class fought in the war. The class was built by Newport News Shipbuilding, which launched Coral Sea in April 1946, and the New York Navy Yard. The ships were rebuilt in the 1950s with angled flight decks and steam catapults, served through the Vietnam War, and were retired between 1977 and 1992. Midway is now a museum ship in San Diego.