The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is one of ten Navy museums that are operated by the

Naval History & Heritage Command The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard ...

. It celebrates the long history of the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

in the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

region of Virginia and is co-located with Nauticus in downtown

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. In December 2008, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum was accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums The American Alliance of Museums (AAM), formerly the American Association of Museums, is a non-profit association whose goal is to bring museums together. Founded in 1906, the organization advocates for museums and provides "museum professionals w ...

, the gold standard for museum accreditation.

Collections

The museum's permanent exhibits include material on the

Battle of the Chesapeake The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 1 ...

(1781), the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

in Hampton Roads, the

Great White Fleet The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the group of United States Navy battleships that completed a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907, to 22 February 1909, by order of President Foreign policy of the Theodore Roosevelt ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Museum holdings are strong in the areas of naval prints, ship models and underwater

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

. The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is the official repository of the remains of two Civil War shipwrecks: USS ''Cumberland'' and CSS ''Florida''.

History

The museum opened on August 31, 1979, in the historic Pennsylvania House. The building, a replica of

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of ...

, is one of the state pavilions remaining from the 1907

Jamestown Exposition The Jamestown Exposition, also known as the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition of 1907, was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anni ...

, a world's fair. A major effort during the museum's tenure at Pennsylvania House was the 1984 installation of a large exhibit on the Civil War in Hampton Roads. During the 1980s, the city of Norfolk invited the museum to relocate to a new downtown maritime center. The Navy accepted the offer, and in 1994 the Hampton Roads Naval Museum opened in the Nauticus National Maritime Center. With the move, the museum's exhibit space increased significantly, while also increasing the number of educational programs. In 2000, the museum undertook management of the battleship USS ''Wisconsin'', which was berthed next to Nauticus that year and opened to the public on April 16, 2001. In December 2009, the Navy donated the battleship to the city of Norfolk, ending the museum's supervision of the ship.

Museum programs and resources

Special temporary exhibits in recent years have included "Animals and the US Navy", "Cuba Libre: The Spanish–American War in the Caribbean" and "Pax Americana: The US Navy in the Era of Violent Peace". The museum also offers guided tours, a lecture series, and educational programs. An active volunteer corps participates in all museum functions. A reference library, archive and photographic collection specializing in regional naval material are open to the public by appointment. The museum maintains a weekly historical blog post on a variety of naval history topics related to the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. The blog is maintained by their staff historian, and associated content is contributed from the museum's volunteers, educators and staff members.

References

External links

Hampton Roads Naval Museum official site

Hampton Roads Naval Museum Blog
{{authority control Maritime museums in Virginia Military and war museums in Virginia Museums in Norfolk, Virginia Museums established in 1979 United States Navy museums 1979 establishments in Virginia Naval History and Heritage Command

Collections

History

Museum programs and resources

See also

References

External links