Midway's refits show how far a strong carrier hull could be pushed. The 1955-57 work added a closed hurricane bow, angled flight deck, deck-edge elevator, and steam catapults. A later reconstruction enlarged the flight deck from 2.8 to 4 acres, increased its landing angle, moved and strengthened the elevators, and added new catapults, arresting gear, and centralized air conditioning. These changes supported heavier aircraft and their systems, but the work overran its budget by a very large amount. The Navy therefore declined to give Franklin D. Roosevelt the same reconstruction. The alterations also contributed to Midway's tendency to roll, exposing both the adaptability and the physical limits of a heavily modified carrier.
Chapter · 29:02-33:12
Modernization stretched the hull and the budget
Successive refits gave Midway an angled deck, stronger aviation machinery, and a much larger flight deck, but cost overruns and handling problems exposed the limits of transforming an old hull.