Navy Museum

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TheNational Navy SEAL Museum is the only museum dedicated solely to preserving the history of the United States Navy SEALs and their predecessors. Located in Fort Pierce, Florida, the Museum resides on the training grounds of the original Navy combat divers, the Frogmen.

Built to honor the men who served with fortitude and dedication, the Navy SEAL Museum first opened its doors on Veterans Day in 1985. From humble beginnings, the facility has experienced tremendous growth, achieving national stature in 2007.

Like the Frogmen of the Forties to the SEAL Teams of the New Millennium, the Navy SEAL Museum continues to evolve to carry forth this mission. While these Special Operators have a tactical mission to maintain homeland security, the Museum is dedicated to educating the public about the invaluable role of SEALs as we continue our expansion to the West Coast in San Diego, California.

Thank you to the 2024 Kitsap Great Give Donors to Puget Sound Navy Museum! The Puget Sound Navy Museum (PSNM) Foundation would like to publicly thank those individuals and families who contributed a total of $5630.00 to PSNM during the recent April 2024 Kitsap Great Give. Thank you for your support and generosity. We greatly appreciate your donations and we will spend them in the support of this great museum!

The Puget Sound Navy Museum is proud to announce that we once again achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums! Alliance Accreditation brings national recognition to a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards and continued institutional improvement. Read more about the details of accreditation here.

All around, 2022 was another successful year for the Puget Sound Navy Museum. We look forward to the coming years, knowing that the Museum will continue to prosper with the strong support of the U.S. Navy, the volunteer staff, the PSNM Foundation, and you. Read all about what PSNM accomplished in 2023 in our Annual Report!

The U.S. Navy recently announced the creation of a new National Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington D.C. to honor the service of American Sailors and enhance the public understanding of our vibrant history and heritage. Learn more about it here.

This website is operated by the Puget Sound Navy Museum Foundation, a private 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization chartered to support the Puget Sound Navy Museum, an official Navy museum. This website and reference to the Puget Sound Navy Museum do not constitute an endorsement by the United States Department of Defense or the United States Department of the Navy of non-US government sites, information, products or services contained therein. Although the United States Department of the Navy may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for Department of Defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over the information you may find at these locations.

Visitors without base access (active/retired/dependent military ID or CAC) are subjected to a background check before access to the base. To learn more, please visit the "Visiting Information" section of the page.

Located in historic Founders Hall, the historic Naval War College Museum serves to educate the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) community, as the corporate memory of the U.S. Navy in the region, and as a clearinghouse for naval history information in New England. The Museum Director, a subjects-area specialist, and staff answer inquiries, provide guidance and orientation talks to visitors on regional naval history and current exhibits, and assist scholarly researchers in the use of the Museum holdings.

Tradition has it that on a late October's day in 1884, Commodore Stephen B. Luce, USN, was rowed from the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron anchored off Newport to Coasters Harbor Island two miles north of the center of Newport, a site designated earlier that month by the Secretary of the Navy for a new kind of college. Once on the island, Luce proceeded to a large stone building, the former Newport Asylum for the Poor, climbed its rickety stairs, and as he opened the front door solemnly announced to his few companions and the empty grounds, "Poor little poorhouse, I christen thee United States Naval War College." Today the "little poorhouse" is a well preserved and stately structure, a National Historic Landmark and home to the Naval War College Museum.

Its collection consists of items relating to these subjects that are perceived to be of value to scholarship, and it forms the core for exhibits throughout the College and for educational outreach projects. Besides permanent exhibits on the College, the genesis of the Navy in the region, and the evolution of permanent naval installations from the late nineteenth century to the present, the Museum features short-term special exhibits relating to College curriculum and to current naval-related topics.

In general, Museum exhibits identify milestones in the evolutionary development of war at sea; explain the significance of the sea as a factor in the formulation and the attainment of national policy objectives; describe the character, educational philosophy, and mission of the College; and chronicle the eventful relationship of the U.S. Navy with Narragansett Bay and its people.

The NWC Museum is open to the public year-round Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Facilities for the handicapped are available, as is a gift shop operated by the Naval War College Foundation (which partially funds museum operations).

Visitors can get the Naval War College Museum's full guided audio tour using their cell phones. The full guided audio tour takes approximately an hour. Visitors can go at their own pace or select stops of interest. The map can be downloaded below and contains a suggested route.

Any visitor who is escorted by personnel with U.S. military identification, does not need advanced reservations. All visitors must also produce two forms of identification for entry onto the Naval Station. Visitors arriving by vehicle are required to have photo identification, proof of vehicle insurance and vehicle registration to access the base.

For more information on directions and visiting information please visit our Directions & Visiting Information page. To receive the form that must be sent to Pass and Identification Office, please contact the NWC Museum (401) 856-5270.

The NWC Museum collects artifact and art collections relating to key concepts in the evolution of maritime strategy and naval operations, naval history relating to Narragansett Bay, and the institutional histories of the NWC, NAVSTA Newport, and its tenant commands as a center of naval education. Staff will review donation offers and make selection decisions based on collection development policies. Donating material is a detailed and time-consuming process. Prospective donors should submit their offers of donations through the form below.

USS IOWA has a long and fascinating history. She was built as the lead vessel of the newest class of battleships, designed during the 1930s as the world was rapidly moving toward war. Commissioned in 1943, IOWA was used in both the Atlantic and the Pacific theaters during World War II.

This type of ship had its origins during the US Civil War, when both the North and the South produced iron-clad warships. A famous naval battle just north of Norfolk, VA between the USS MONITOR and the USS MERRIMACK (rebuilt and renamed the CSS VIRGINIA by the South) demonstrated that existing wooden ships had become obsolete.

In 1869, the HMS MONARCH, built by Great Britain, became the first ocean-going iron-hulled battleship. One of the changes that began to show up on Civil War ships was the replacement of broadside guns pointing out of portholes in the side of the ship with guns mounted in swiveling turrets on the main deck. MONARCH embraced this change fully and represented the first truly modern warship.

The first battleship built for the US navy was USS MAINE, constructed in the navy yard in New York City. The last, never finished, was KENTUCKY, whose construction came to an end in 1947 at the Norfolk Navy Yard. In total, the naval history of the U.S. includes the construction of 59 battleships of 23 different classes.

There is a large number of naval history exhibits around the country that feature ships from the United States Navy. The greatest number are ships from WWII. The oldest is the USS CONSTITUTION, whose construction began in 1797 and which is still a commissioned ship.

The Washington Navy Yard, beginning in the early 1800s, was an important center of ship and gun production for the U.S. navy until ordinance and gun production ceased in 1961. The new national museum of the Navy, sometimes colloquially called the Naval Gun Factory Museum, was opened in 1963.

Battleship USS Iowa is a community platform leveraged for engaging and impactful programs. We focus our activities into three primary pillars: education, veterans, and community.

The museum is operated by Pacific Battleship Center, a 501c3 non-profit organization solely supported by admissions, donations, event space rentals, and gift shop. We do not receive government funding for our operations.

Scheduled to open in late 2024, the 10,000-square-foot NSMSD will be within walking distance of the San Diego bayfront and serve as the preview of a larger, world-class museum to be built in the coming years.

SITREP is shorthand for Situation Report, first used extensively during World War II. A Situation Report usually contains anything from descriptions of deployments to after action reports of military movement and missions.

The National Museum of the United States Navy, or U.S. Navy Museum for short, is the flagship museum of the United States Navy and is located in the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., United States.

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