A 60 foot sport fishing boat sailed into the side of the decommissioned USS Midway on Jul. 18, 2025, with the operator apparently under the influence of alcohol. No injuries and no major damage to either vessel have been reported.
Footage of the incident was captured both by San Diego Web Cam, as well as visitors on board the USS Midway at the time.
Video of the impact from Harbor Island. boat vs USS Midway 11:48AM pic.twitter.com/ZHY3kTjOwP
— San Diego Web Cam (@SanDiegoWebCam) July 18, 2025
An anonymous viewer sent us this video of the M/V Offshore impacting the USS Midway yesterday.
The rest of our footage is posted here: https://t.co/Sqggj9n61d pic.twitter.com/V41GQDcdGW
— San Diego Web Cam (@SanDiegoWebCam) July 19, 2025
With neither vessel taking significant damage, the civilian craft subsequently attempted to leave the scene before soon being intercepted by a police boat. Local police later confirmed to The San Diego Union-Tribune that one person had been arrested on suspicion of boating while under the influence.
The USS Midway is berthed across San Diego Bay from Naval Base Coronado, which is the homeport of three current U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and a large number of U.S. Navy aircraft squadrons. Midway was decommissioned in 1992 and subsequently left the Naval Register in 1997. After being towed from Bremerton, Washington, and undergoing restoration work in Oakland, California, the ship opened as the USS Midway Museum at its current location in 2004.
To further clarify – the USS Midway is a museum ship and NOT part of the active fleet. There does not appear to be any damage as reflected in these pictures taken at the time as shown. https://t.co/OAeDdbONmK pic.twitter.com/d3Ew3ABxPJ
— WarshipCam (@WarshipCam) July 19, 2025
Commissioned in September 1945, just weeks after the end of the Second World War, the USS Midway’s service career encompassed the entirety of the Cold War and saw the ship take part in many notable events. For the first ten years of its service, the Midway featured a WW2-style rectangular flight deck. During modernisation work in 1955, the ship was retrofitted with a flight deck extension that allowed the use of a more modern angled flight deck. The ship was also kitted out with a new elevator as well as steam powered catapults.
After taking part in the Vietnam War in the 1960s, the Midway once again underwent modernisation works, extending the flight deck even further, improving the elevators, and replacing the catapults with more powerful models to better support ever-growing carrier based aircraft.
USS Midway CV-41 after her 1970 SCB-110.66 refit, in the second image you can see how the flight deck and elevator layout changes as well as look back to her initial layout in 1945. #ussmidway #cv41 #flynavy #navalaviation #aviationsafari #aviationpreservation #boneyardsafari pic.twitter.com/a3AD3flzCp
— Boneyard Safari (@Boneyardsafari) May 28, 2023
Following more Vietnam missions in the early 1970s, the Midway led the first U.S. carrier group to be forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. Remarkably, aircraft from the Midway were responsible for both the first air to air kill of a MiG fighter during the Vietnam War, as well as the last air to air kill of the entire war.
In 1986, the carrier had the honour of performing the final deck launch of an F-4 Phantom II in U.S. Navy service. They would be replaced by F/A-18 Hornets – a remarkable fact, given that the ship was designed with the intention to operate piston-driven fighters like the F4U Corsair. F-14 Tomcats never featured as part of the Midway’s air wing due to the aircraft’s size, though at least two operated from the ship’s deck after diverting in poor weather.
Shortly before retirement, the Midway took part in Operation Desert Storm. Its A-6 Intruder strike aircraft were the first carrier based aircraft over Iraqi territory, carrying out the first carrier-launched strikes of the war. No aircraft from the Midway was lost during the conflict.
The Midway Museum today shows off both the ship as well as a collection of over thirty aircraft arranged on the deck and in the ship’s hangar, ranging from late WW2 and early jet designs like the Corsair, Skyraider, and Cutlass, through to relatively modern aircraft like the F/A-18 Hornet, EA-6B Prowler, SH-60 Seahawk, and S-3 Viking.
