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Page 11 text:
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For the Midway, having made seven deployments to the Mediterranean for duty with the Sixth Fleet and four such deployments to the Far East for duty with the Seventh Fleet, in her relatively short life, it is a familiar mission, and one the Big M has always performed with distinction. Launched and commissioned shortly after the conclusion of World War II, when the carrier ' s importance in modern naval thinking, was an already established fact, the Midway was named after the famous and crucial World War II Battle of Midway ' , fought June 3-6, 1942, off the island of the same name, in which the Japanese were inflicted with a decisive defeat. After serving with the Second and Sixth Fleets intermittently for over nine years, the Midway on December 27, 1954, departed on a world cruise, ending, after an operational period of several months with the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific, at the Bremerton, Wash. Naval Shipyard, where she was de-commissioned for the purpose of extensive and pro-longed overhaul and modernization. Two years later, on September 30, 1957, a new Midway was recommissioned, ready soon to take her place with the operating Fleets as a carrier fully capable of embarking the Navy ' s latest and fastest jets. The Midway emerged from Bremerton as a 62,000-ton vessel, as against her original 45,000 tons, due to a completely revamped structure. Further, the new Midway had a hurricane bow, an angled deck, island structure modernization, three steam catapults, new-type arresting gear, jet-blast deflectors and the largest aviation crane ever installed on a converted ship. After post-yard sea trials and inspections, the Midway sailed to her new homeport of Alameda, California, where she is still homeported, and, after an operating and framing period with the First Fleet ofi the West Coast, the Midway, in August of 1958, sailed westward for the Orient on the first of her, to date, four such deployments. Smce this initial cruise to the Western Pacific, the name Midway has become well known m Japan, the Philippines and other places in the Orient, and ' , it is a source of justifiable pride to the men who have served on her during these deployments, that the name Midway is a respected name in her ports-of-call in an area of such vital importance in the Cold War struggle as the Far East. .--T ' , !
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Page 10 text:
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The specific role of the U. S. Serviceman in the furtherance of his country ' s foreign policy is of a dual nature. He must be a professional fighter — ready and willing if called upon to fight — and at the same time, he must represent his country abroad, in his sphere of infiuence, in the creditable manner of a true ambassador of good will. Nowhere is it more difficult for the Navyman to successfully perform both facets of his job than in the Orient where he meets people from markedly different environmental backgrounds than his own and with whom, somehow, he must com- municate and convey his country ' s message of friendship and hope. It is a challenging task, but one, because of the very challenges envolved, of vital importance — for the Orient is an area of unsurpassed importance in the Cold War. Rich in natural as well as human resources, with one of the world ' s leading industrial complexes centered in Japan, the Orient is a worthy prize for the forces vying for the allegiance of the people living there. It is into such an atmosphere that a sailor on an attack carrier, such as the Midway, arrives when his ship is deployed to the Western Pacific for what is normally a seven-to-eight-month-long cruise. Why ? he may ask himself as his ship sails under the Golden Gate headed for an area that will not only be foreign to him but, as well, possibly dangerous. If he is aware of the world situation he will realize the dual nature of his role or mission on an individual level, but does he realize how his ship and its mission fit into the grand design of U. S. foreign policy across the globe ? Essentially, his ship, an attack aircraft carrier of approximately 62,000 tons, is a mobile air base or home for nearly a hundred assorted aircraft with their own varying, specific tactical roles to play in the continuing drama of the Cold War. The key to understanding the role of a carrier and the carrier task force is to comprehend fully the word mobility, as it is upon this word and what it means when translated into day-to-day action, whether in a cold or hot war, that all else depends and all else turns. A modern attack carrier, such as the Midway, is capable of living at sea for extended periods, capable, further, if need be, of operating anywhere within a 600,000 square mile area in any given 24-hour period ; thus becoming an illusive target for an enemy in time of war, while being a roving, on-the-spot friend in time of peace. Thus, if trouble flares, as it so often does in this world of today, the carrier task force can be there in the classic show of force, its presence felt if not seen by friend and foe alike, comforting to the former, sobering, tempering to the latter. This, then, is the mission of the carrier and the carrier task force.
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Page 12 text:
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SAN FRANCISCO With very few exceptions, San Fjanasco is tne y night clubs, restaurants even some streets Midway ' s home. For six kring the period between WESTPACdep . Bagdad-by-the-Bay. That months we were able to explore the enmess var y we were unable to see more new Places can only be jiame . the ones we went to so much that we went tack and back aga ing back one more time when we return home to. . .
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