National Museum of the U.S. Navy

The National Museum of the U.S. Navy (NMUSN) is the Navy's official history museum, operated by the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. It is a heritage and public-education resource, not a logistics operating system — logisticians and the wider public use it to research Navy history, artifacts, and heritage rather than to perform any logistics function.

What it is

NMUSN is one of several Navy museums nationwide and the only one that presents an overview of the full sweep of U.S. naval history, from 1775 to the present. The museum traces its roots to a Washington Navy Yard ordnance display dating to 1865; the present museum in Building 76 (the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory) was established by Admiral Arleigh Burke and opened to the public in 1963. Its collection covers Navy wartime history and battles as well as peacetime contributions in exploration, diplomacy, space flight, navigation, and humanitarian service. A separate Cold War Gallery occupies Building 70 (the former Experimental Model Basin) on the same installation.

Who operates it

The museum is a component of the Naval History and Heritage Command, the U.S. Navy's official history program, headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard.

Access

Admission is free and no ticket is required, but the museum sits inside the Washington Navy Yard, a controlled-access Navy installation — so reaching it is not the same as walking into a civilian museum. All visitors must present a valid photo ID at the installation gate. Visitors without a DoD CAC, Uniformed Services ID, other federal PIV credential, or TWIC (or an escort holding one of those credentials) must be processed through the Visitor Control Center (VCC) at the primary access gate (11th and O Streets SE); unescorted visitors without qualifying credentials should submit a pre-vetting request to the VCC at least seven business days in advance, since the VCC is closed weekends and holidays. As of the museum's transition to a "Museum Support Center" during construction of the new facility, on-site visitation is by appointment only — for scheduled educational programming, events, private tours, and group visits (including Honor Flights) — rather than open walk-in hours. Visits can be arranged by phone at 202-685-0589 or by email at NHHC_NMUSNNavyMuseum@us.navy.mil.

How logisticians use it

NMUSN has no logistics operating function; its relevance to the logistics community is as a public history and heritage reference — for researching the history of Navy logistics, supply, and materiel programs, for command heritage and training presentations, and for planning group/unit visits (including honor flights) through the museum's event-scheduling contacts.

History & lineage

The Secretary of the Navy formally announced construction of a new, larger National Museum of the United States Navy on a site just outside the historic Washington Navy Yard perimeter (at Tingey Street and M Street) on October 18, 2024, with $39.5 million in funding secured to launch the project; the new site is intended to give the public unfettered access without requiring installation credentials. The current Building 76 museum operates as the interim Museum Support Center — appointment-only — while the new museum is designed and built.

Related systems

NMUSN is one of several museums and heritage components operated under the Naval History and Heritage Command, which also maintains the Navy Department Library, archives, and underwater archaeology programs.