San Diego: USS Midway

USS Midway was an aircraft carrier in US Navy. Commissioned right after the end of World War II it served for 47 years until 1992. It was the biggest ship in the world until 1955 and was the first US Navy ship to pass the Panama Canal. Now it's a museum ship in San Diego.

Model:

An actual serving aircraft carrier was anchored nearby in the San Diego bay, and could be seen from Midway, shore, or, as in case of the picture below, from the cruise ship

Returning to Midway, it's enormous, a small city of it's own. The deck below is occupied by history exhibitions, planes from different periods...

... connected by infinite net of corridors

The flight deck is partially free to roam...

... and with part occupied by helicopters and airplanes

View on the flight deck from the cockpit (the guy on the left is a volunteer, who was leading the guided tour through the cockpit)

and me in the captain's chair :)

Near USS Midway (actually right next to HMS Surprise) Soviet diesel submarine B-39 is docked. It's, of course, a museum

Thanks to its geographical position, San Diego is home to US Naval base, right on the border with Mexico in the South Bay right across the sandy beaches.

As you can see on the map, the bay cruise ship passes at some moment right near the base, and the guide on the ship tells bunch of interesting facts. Below are some pictures (it was insanely windy, I gave up and hid inside, so all the photos are taken through (quite dirty) glass).
First there is the repairing dock for the submarines.

It's not in the Naval base itself, but in the North Bay right near the favourite chilling place of the sea lions

The base itself is bunch of ships coming and going

Helicopter