邱明亮

中途島號(hào)航空母艦是當(dāng)年美國(guó)海軍的一個(gè)標(biāo)志，如今成了航空母艦博物館，吸引了來(lái)自世界各地的游客前來(lái)參觀。

圣地亞哥是美國(guó)著名的海港城市，清潔而又靜謐，一眼望去蔚藍(lán)的天空和大海就展現(xiàn)在我們的眼前，陽(yáng)光明媚，不時(shí)有白色的海鷗從頭頂飛過(guò)，巨大的中途島號(hào)航空母艦就靜靜地?？吭诟蹫尺吷?，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)望去往日的雄風(fēng)依舊不減。

中途島號(hào)航空母艦1945年下水服役，1997年正式退役。它參與了第二次世界大戰(zhàn)、越南戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，以及沙漠風(fēng)暴行動(dòng)等多項(xiàng)美國(guó)海軍的軍事活動(dòng)。這艘戰(zhàn)艦創(chuàng)造了多項(xiàng)第一，其中包括是第一艘起降噴氣式戰(zhàn)艦的航母以及第一艘發(fā)射導(dǎo)彈的航母。1992年，中途島號(hào)作為美軍中服役年限最長(zhǎng)的戰(zhàn)艦退出了美國(guó)艦隊(duì)序列。在這期間，大約有20萬(wàn)美軍在中途島號(hào)航空母艦上服役過(guò)。2004年1月，中途島號(hào)航母抵達(dá)圣地亞哥港灣，永久地?？吭诹撕＼姶a頭。而后它便成了專(zhuān)門(mén)展示航母及海軍飛行器的海上軍事博物館，由非盈利機(jī)構(gòu)接管并對(duì)外開(kāi)放。據(jù)說(shuō)，當(dāng)年該博物館的捐助者募集了800萬(wàn)美元，花費(fèi)了十年多的時(shí)間來(lái)進(jìn)行解除封存后的清洗工作。

登上中途島號(hào)的舷梯，入口處首先進(jìn)入的是航母中艙，足足有幾個(gè)足球場(chǎng)大，中間沒(méi)有一根柱子。服務(wù)員給每個(gè)人分發(fā)資料，還有說(shuō)中文的講解員。他告訴我們?cè)鯓邮褂秒娮诱Z(yǔ)音導(dǎo)覽器。航母上隨處可見(jiàn)頭戴小黃帽的老人，據(jù)了解，這些都是曾在航母上服役的退伍老兵，他們中有飛行員、軍官、地勤、水兵甚至炊事員，現(xiàn)在都在擔(dān)當(dāng)志愿者，熱心為大家講解，個(gè)個(gè)臉上都掛著熱情的笑容。當(dāng)我提出合個(gè)影時(shí)，老兵很爽快地答應(yīng)了。

中艙是博物館的第一部分——機(jī)庫(kù)層和前甲板，展出了幾十架各式各樣的飛機(jī)。我在馬赫戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)模擬器面前聽(tīng)介紹，它曾是美國(guó)軍方戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)駕駛員訓(xùn)練用的模擬器，可讓兩人同時(shí)操作，模擬空戰(zhàn)。這里還有不少模擬空戰(zhàn)的游戲，許多人排隊(duì)進(jìn)去玩一把。一位黃帽老人摸了摸剛玩了下來(lái)的小朋友，聽(tīng)說(shuō)是中國(guó)人，他順手從口袋里拿出一枚精致的紀(jì)念章送給小朋友。旁邊展位上停著一架二戰(zhàn)中美國(guó)海軍使用的F4U“海盜”飛機(jī)，另一個(gè)展位上是一架TBM復(fù)仇者。

過(guò)了一會(huì)兒我們登上了中途島號(hào)的甲板。兩邊琳瑯滿(mǎn)目地?cái)[放著20多架各式戰(zhàn)機(jī)、直升機(jī)、運(yùn)輸機(jī)。其中有越戰(zhàn)時(shí)期的F4鬼怪式戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)、F8十字軍戰(zhàn)士戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)、F9F-8P美洲獅戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)、F9F黑豹戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)等。還有現(xiàn)在仍在服役的F14雄貓戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)、F18大黃蜂戰(zhàn)斗機(jī)等，讓人看得眼花繚亂。有些飛機(jī)允許游客坐上駕駛艙親身體驗(yàn)一下。我們登上了一架海上中級(jí)教練機(jī)。駕駛艙前方座位上有兩個(gè)披掛齊全的教練模型，駕駛艙內(nèi)儀表盤(pán)、操縱桿齊全，游客紛紛用手機(jī)和模型合影。

最后參觀的是航母的上層甲板，包括海軍上將和艦長(zhǎng)的指揮室、電訊中心、駕駛臺(tái)、指揮塔等。由于艦橋上空間狹小，游客必須排隊(duì)等候分批由工作人員帶領(lǐng)上去參觀，且有時(shí)間限制。這一部分也是整個(gè)博物館中唯一不能使用電子語(yǔ)音導(dǎo)覽器的，全由工作人員現(xiàn)場(chǎng)解說(shuō)。去指揮塔的舷梯很窄，只容一人通過(guò)。登上指揮塔，可將整個(gè)航母的甲板盡收眼底。老兵的講解十分認(rèn)真。

接著，我們又順著梯子下到了艦上的生活工作區(qū)。這里應(yīng)有盡有：教堂、醫(yī)院、郵局、餐廳、酒吧、軍官俱樂(lè)部、宿舍、通訊中心、消防站、機(jī)械加工車(chē)間、理發(fā)室、洗衣房、制衣房、抽煙室……真是麻雀雖小五臟俱全。我們只是走馬觀花游覽了中途島號(hào)航母博物館，就花了整整3個(gè)小時(shí)。

離開(kāi)這艘巨無(wú)霸時(shí)，我想到了我們國(guó)家的第一艘航空母艦“遼寧”號(hào)。前段時(shí)間它正驕傲地在黃海、東海、臺(tái)灣海峽執(zhí)行任務(wù)。我國(guó)第二艘航空母艦已于4月26日下水，這標(biāo)志著我國(guó)自主設(shè)計(jì)建造航母取得重大階段性成果。若干年后，如果“遼寧”號(hào)航母退役了，我們也許能有像中途島號(hào)航空母艦?zāi)菢拥暮侥覆┪镳^了，到那時(shí)一定會(huì)吸引許許多多的中外游客前來(lái)參觀游覽。

My Visit to Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum

By Qiu Mingliang

My friends and I traveled to San Diego to visit the USS Midway in San Diego， a port city in USAs west coast. The day we visited the carrier， it was sunny and quiet. The carrier loomed large and magnificent at the wharf. White seagulls flapped their wings leisurely passing over our heads.

The USS Midway came into military service in 1945 and retired in 1997， a period of decades that spanned World War Two， Vietnam War and Desert Storm. About 200，000 people served during the decades when it was in service. In January 2004， the USS Midway arrived at San Diego and permanently stayed there. Since then it is officially known as Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. It took about eight million dollars from donors and more than ten years to clean up the carrier.

The carrier was awe-inspiring and impressive in its bigness. We arrived first at the main hangar deck. It is as large as a few football fields and there is not a pillar anywhere. We were given pamphlets. A tour guide spoke Chinese. He showed us how to use a digital audio guide gadget. There were docents everywhere， wearing yellow caps. They were veterans who once served on the carrier， including pilots， officers， ground crew members， sailors， and cooks. They were friendly and smiled a lot. They were glad to pose with visitors for a picture. I requested a veteran to pose with me. He most gladly obliged.

The first part we visited was the hangar deck and the front deck， where dozens of old planes were on display. Also on display were some training simulators for pilots. Some visitors queued to play games at the simulators. A Chinese kid had just left a game behind. A veteran gave him a souvenir badge after learning that he was from China.

Then we went up to the flight deck flanked on either side by 10 plus airplanes. It was actually an exhibition of old-time airplanes. I was dazzled by the variety of these jet fighters. Visitors were allowed to get into the cockpits of some planes. I climbed into a trainer aircraft. In the front seat were two fully dressed dummies and a full panel of instruments and a control stick.

The last part we visited was the island， the superstructure of the carrier. As the space up there was narrow， visitors went up in small groups led by tour guides. Visiting time was also limited. No audio guides were allowed up there. A commanding view from the island was impressive： I could see all the flight deck.

Then we went down to the living quarters where there was a church， a hospital， a post office， canteens， a club for officers， dorms， a barbers shop， a laundry room， a tailors shop， a smoking room， etc. Though these were deep down in the carrier， they were all there.

It took me about good three hours to go through the parts that were open to the public. The sightseeing was far from being complete and thorough. What if I had taken a closer look at a much slower pace？ My fascination with the Midway Aircraft Carrier was largely inspired by Chinas Liaoning Aircraft Carrier. I couldnt help but wonder when I would be able to visit it in China after its retirement.