USS MIDWAY
Lt. j.g. Rich Chao, the PAO of the USS Midway
(CV 41), chronicles the public affairs aspects of the
ship’s 1990 fire as follows:
June 20, 1990, was a day I had to juggle
feathers in a sudden storm. Two explosions and
a fire occurred while the USS Midway (fig. 2-2)
conducted
routine
flight
operations
approximately 125 nautical miles northeast of
Yokosuka, Japan. Three crew members died
and eight others were seriously injured in the
line of duty. All 11 crewmen belonged to an
elite fire-fighting team known as the “Flying
Squad.”
It was not planned as a soporific day for the
Midway public affairs staff anyway. After weeks of
coordination, we spent the morning double-
checking the details of an important VIP embark
that included a senior Japanese Defense Agency
official and a Japanese vice admiral. A 1MC
announcement preceded by rapid bells broke my
train of thought.
“Smoke, smoke, smoke. . . I have a report of
white smoke in compartment . . . away the Flying
Squad away,” came across the 1MC. JO1 Brady
Bautch began logging a sequence of events as we
always do for all damage control announcements.
A similar scenario happened during a previous
media embark and we expected everything would
174.132
Figure 2-2.—USS Midway (CV 41). (Official U.S. Navy photograph by PH2 Rodney C. Orallo)
2-5
