The lead ship of her class, USS Midway (CV-41) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. She was built at Newport News, Virginia, with a revolutionary hull design that gave her superior maneuverability over all previous carriers. She was launched on March 20, 1945 and commissioned on September 10, 1945, making her the first ship to be commissioned after the end of World War II.

On December 27, 1954, Midway cleared Norfolk for a world cruise, steaming past the Cape of Good Hope to join the Seventh Fleet in Taiwan for operations in the Western Pacific. In September 1955, she entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for the first of her two major modernizations. She underwent an extensive modernization program, SCB-110. Two years later, the carrier emerged with an enclosed hurricane bow, an aft deck-edge elevator, an angled flight deck, and three steam catapults.

In 1965, Midway actively participated in the Vietnam War. From February 1966 to mid-1970, she received an enlarged flight deck as part of another extensive modernization. Upon her return to commissioned service, she became involved in Southeast Asian conflict combat operations once more. In October 1973, her homeport was changed to Yokosuka, Japan, and she was active in the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf areas. During the fall of Saigon, South Vietnam on April 29 and 30, 1975, the carrier was instrumental in the overall recovering of more than 7,000 evacuees and 989 Marines.

Midway participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm between 1990 and 1991. After additional activity in the Philippines and elsewhere in the Seventh Fleet area, she returned to the United States for the first time in 18 years. She was decommissioned in April 1992, after 47 years of service. On September 30, 2003, she began her journey to San Diego, California, in preparation for use as a museum and memorial. She was opened to the public on June 7, 2004.

Bring any empty space to life with the USS Midway wooden ship model. From planning to packaging, each step is performed with utmost care; everything is done by hand. Master craftsmen become magicians as they turn simple pieces of mahogany into ship replicas. After the wood is sanded and puttied, talented artists duplicate every single detail with extraordinary accuracy. Hand-casted resin and handmade metal parts complete the ship. A final coat of clear lacquer provides lasting protection for the product. Each model ship comes on a display base with brass pedestals and a brass name plate, and undergoes various stages of quality control before being put in its protective wood crate. All large models are shipped via FedEx Next Day Air.