Operations Sandy and Pushover

Operation Sandy was the codename for the post-World War II launch of a captured V-2 rocket from the deck of the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Midway on September 6, 1947.

Rear Admiral Daniel V. Gallery, Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, was an early advocate of the concept.

Preliminary testing was done at the White Sands Missile Range, using a simulated aircraft carrier deck.

[1] It was shipped across the country to the east coast and loaded aboard the Midway, then the largest carrier in the Navy and equipped with an armored flight deck.

In late 1949, a fully fueled V-2 was set on a pedestal with four legs, two of which were rigged with explosives to be "blown away just after ignition of the rocket motor.