Royal Navy Museums

Royal Navy museums

Established	2009 (2009)
Director	Matthew Sheldon
Website	nmrn.org.uk

The National Museum of the Royal Navy was created in early 2009 to act as a single non-departmental public body for the museums of the Royal Navy. With venues across the United Kingdom, the museums detail the history of the Royal Navy operating on and under the sea, on land and in the air.

Museums

The National Museum of the Royal Navy from 2009 onwards comprised the following:

	Museum	Location
	Royal Navy Museums, Hartlepool	Jackson Dock, Hartlepool
	Royal Naval Museums; Portsmouth	Portsmouth Dockyard, Hampshire
	Royal Marines Museum	Closed April 2017 Superseded by the Royal Marines Experience, at Boathouse 6.
	Royal Navy Submarine Museum	Gosport, Hampshire
	Royal Navy Museum, Naval Aviation	RNAS Yeovilton, Ilchester, Somerset
	Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower	Gosport, Hampshire

Historic ships

Ships of the National Museum of the Royal Navy include:

	Museum	Location
	HMS Victory	Portsmouth Dockyard Hampshire
	HMS Trincomalee	Hartlepool
	HMS Warrior	Portsmouth Dockyard Hampshire
	HMS Caroline	Belfast County Antrim
	HMS M.33	Portsmouth Dockyard Hampshire
	HMS Alliance	Portsmouth Dockyard Hampshire

Director

2009-2023 Dominic Tweddle

2024- Matthew Sheldon

Background

In the financial year starting 1 April 2009, the NMRN co-ordinated Grants in Aid from the UK Ministry of Defence and the four original museums became integral parts of the NMRN.

The NMRN is also the custodian of HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

HMS Alliance, the only surviving British Second World War submarine, re-opened following a £7 million conservation and restoration project, in 2014.

On 3 April 2014, The Babcock Galleries opened at the NMRN's Portsmouth Museum. The £4.5M project created 'HMS' – the Hear My Story exhibition, which tells the story of the 20th and 21st century Royal Navy and its people, and a special exhibition space.

In October 2014, the Museum received funding to restore D-Day Landing Craft (Tank) LCT 7074. The craft was raised from where it had sunk at moorings in Birkenhead, and was transported to Portsmouth for conservation.

In August 2015, the First World War Monitor HMS M.33, currently undergoing restoration, opened to the public. In December the same year, the museum acquired RML 497, a Second World War motor launch.

HMS Caroline, Belfast, joined the museum on 31 May 2016, on the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.

HMS Warrior was transferred to the museum in 2017 from the Warrior Preservation Trust, and the museum has helped finish ongoing HLF Works as well as undertaking a further restoration of the ship, including new paintwork on the ship's hull.

On 13 May 2026 the NMRN was retitled as Royal Navy Museums.

External links

• "Discover the Royal Navy like never before". Retrieved 1 June 2026.
• National Museum of the Royal Navy
• National Museum of the Royal Navy Portsmouth
• National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool
• Royal Marines Museum Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• Royal Navy Submarine Museum
• Explosion Museum