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Navy Museum Celebrates 40th Anniversary
Story Number: NNS030417-06
Release Date: 4/17/2003 10:17:00 AM
By Sheila Brennan, The Navy Museum
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy Museum celebrates its 40th anniversary and the legacy of past naval museums with a new exhibit called, "Spanning Three Centuries: Museums on the Washington Navy Yard."
This anniversary exhibit highlights images and artifacts from the Navy’s original collection and its early museums.
Featured are rare photographs of the yard’s past museums, and architectural drawings designed in 1932 for a proposed naval history museum to be located on the National Mall.
Other interesting artifacts in the new exhibit include Adm. George Dewey’s death mask; a copy of "Morrison’s Strangers Guide to Washington," which lists the Museum of Naval Relics and Weapons as a top tourist attraction in the late 19th century; and a breech-loading gun from Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés’ 16th-century conquest of Mexico that Capt. William M. Hunter captured in Alvarado, Mexico, during the Mexican War of 1846–1848.
And in the tradition of its predecessors on the Washington Navy Yard beginning in 1865, the current museum features a collection that dates from 1800.
In fact, the first artifact collected and displayed by the U.S. Navy was a French gun captured during the Quasi-War with France (1798-1801). This gun remains on exhibit on the east side of the current museum building.
The museum’s collection moved twice before Adm. Arleigh Burke opened the current museum, building 76, in May 1963 to create an American naval history museum comparable to those in Europe.
The modern Navy Museum is the largest American museum to chronicle the history of the U.S. Navy from its creation to the present.
It contains unique artifacts, like two working submarine periscopes; USS Constitution’s fighting top; the world’s deepest diving submersible, Trieste; and the khaki uniform of Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz.
And a continual visitor favorite is its largest collection of official Navy ship models under one roof.
After 40 years of service, the Navy Museum continues to embody Burke’s vision of sharing the Navy’s history and traditions with the world.
To visit the Museum, please enter the Washington Navy Yard at the 11th & O Street Gate. Limited, free parking is available on the Yard. For more information, call 202-433-6897.
The Navy Museum is the U.S. Navy’s flagship museum located on the Washington Navy Yard. Learn more about The Navy Museum on the Naval Historical Center’s homepage at www.history.navy.mil.
For related news, visit the Naval Historical Center Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/navhist.
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