The Naval Archive
EST. MMXXV · WARSHIPS OF THE GREAT WAR AT SEA
Where the Steel Still Floats

Museums Around the World

Fewer than two dozen major combatants survive. These museums keep their steel out of the breakers' yards.

HMS Belfast
United Kingdom
London

HMS Belfast

A Town-class light cruiser preserved afloat on the Thames. She served in the Arctic, at North Cape, on D-Day, and in Korea.

Wikimedia Commons
USS Missouri Memorial
United States
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

USS Missouri Memorial

The Iowa-class battleship on whose deck the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on 2 September 1945.

U.S. Navy / Wikimedia
USS Arizona Memorial
United States
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

USS Arizona Memorial

Built directly over the sunken hull of the battleship lost on 7 December 1941. Oil still rises from the wreck.

U.S. Navy / Wikimedia
USS Midway Museum
United States
San Diego, California

USS Midway Museum

An aircraft carrier commissioned one week after the surrender of Japan. She preserves the immediate post-war naval aviation legacy.

Wikimedia Commons
Battleship USS New Jersey
United States
Camden, New Jersey

Battleship USS New Jersey

The most decorated battleship in U.S. Navy history. Now a museum on the Delaware River.

Wikimedia Commons
USS North Carolina
United States
Wilmington, NC

USS North Carolina

The first of the new fast battleships. She fought in every major Pacific campaign from Guadalcanal onward.

Wikimedia Commons
Battleship Texas
United States
La Porte, Texas

Battleship Texas

A New York-class battleship launched in 1912 — the only surviving dreadnought in the world.

Wikimedia Commons
U-995 at Laboe
Germany
Kiel

U-995 at Laboe

A Type VIIC/41 U-boat preserved on the beach — the only surviving Type VII boat in the world.

Wikimedia Commons
Mikasa
Japan
Yokosuka

Mikasa

The sole surviving capital ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy — a reminder of the fleet almost entirely destroyed in 1941–45.

Wikimedia Commons
HMCS Haida
Canada
Hamilton, Ontario

HMCS Haida

A Tribal-class destroyer and the most combat-decorated warship in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Wikimedia Commons
Musée national de la Marine
France
Paris

Musée national de la Marine

The French national maritime museum with extensive collections relating to the Marine Nationale in the Second World War.

Wikimedia Commons
Australian National Maritime Museum
Australia
Sydney

Australian National Maritime Museum

Home to HMAS Vampire and submarine HMAS Onslow, with significant WWII exhibits on the Pacific war.

Wikimedia Commons