"Diamond Jim" wrote in message
om...

Construction on the Midways was started during WWII but it was not rushed.
When they were ordered it was realized that they would not be required
during the War, so they were planned from the beginning to combine the
best
features of the carriers used during the war. A kind of "lessons learned
carrier. They had about the same aircraft complement and the same speed as
the Essexs they were 45,000 tons compared to the approximate 31,000 ton
Essexs. There were originally supposed to be six Midways, but only three
were built and they were not completed until after the war was over. IIRC
the Midways were the first US ships ordered that were designed from the
start as being too wide to fit through the Panama canal.


Midway was ordered in August 1942, her keel was laid down in October 1943,
and she was launched in March 1945. It's true she wasn't commissioned until
after VJ Day, in September 1945, but just who realized by any of those
earlier dates that none of the Midway class would be required during WWII?