# Has anyone been to any Museum Ships? Thoughts on best ones? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2022, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476 "2022-06-20T03:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/41 "2022-06-20T19:19:44Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > In Boston is the **USS Constitution** , not technically a museum ship, but a must visit if you’re in the area. Flagship of the Greatest Navy in the history of the World. The current US Navy. I’ve been to a handful of museum ships- the USS Texas (BB-35), the USS Stewart & USS Cavalla (Seawolf Park in Galveston), the Jeremiah O’Brien in San Francisco, the HMS Belfast in London, and the USS Constitution in Boston. And I’ve been on tours of a handful of active-duty ships too (USS Texas (CGN-39), USS Lexington (CV-16, while it was still in commission), and [HMS Berwick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Berwick_(F115))( F115)- it visited Houston in the late 70s, and my aunt somehow wrangled a tour for my father and I) The USS Constitution was by far the best one of all. To a large degree, once you’ve seen one modern ship, you’ve seen them all- there’s a lot less variation than you might expect. But old sailing frigates are something else entirely, and the Constitution has some of the most interesting history as well. I would like to see the USS Intrepid, and one of the Iowas; I imagine it’ll be the USS Missouri when we visit Hawaii in the next few years. I figure I’m going to see the USS Turner Joy next month as well. I also want to see U-505 in Chicago at some point as well. I also imagine that at some point, we’ll do the night aboard the Lexington in Corpus Christi as part of Boy Scouts. ---
**Author:** ![McCaff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@McCaff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McCaff)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/42 "2022-06-20T19:34:05Z")
USS Salem was better than Massachusetts, IMO. Hell of a lot less prepped and museumized, though; looked like the crew was just away someplace. Crammed to the gills with damage control supplies, machine shop stocks, &cet. (Closer to Boston than Fall River, also.) 20 odd years since been there, and it all may have changed. If you do go to to the Massachusetts, hit the whaling museum; the Lagoda is a half-scale whaler that is, in some ways easier to take in than seeing the Morgan in Mystic. The Kidd, somewhere around Baton Rouge, is another good one. Again, over 20 years since I’ve seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/43 "2022-06-20T19:35:28Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > My parents visited me here in San Francisco around 1988 or so, and we toured the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a liberty ship. It’s the only ship tour I’ve ever been on. It was meaningful to us because my father was a merchant seaman in WWII and served on some very similar ships. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it was fascinating and I’m glad I saw it. One piece of trivia about that ship is that for the movie Titanic, the engine room scenes were filmed on the Jeremiah O’Brien in San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada_Jr)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/44 "2022-06-20T21:16:40Z")
I will speak up for _Elissa_ in Galveston. [1877 ELISSA at the Galveston Historic Seaport - Galveston Historical Foundation](https://www.galvestonhistory.org/sites/1877-tall-ship-elissa-at-the-galveston-historic-seaport). Built in 1877, and still regularly unmoors and sails. Most of the year open for tours, and a beautiful little ship. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/45 "2022-06-20T21:46:21Z")
I toured the SS Minnow on a three hour tour… A three hour tour… 🙂 You young’uns will just have to google that ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/46 "2022-06-20T21:54:22Z")
You mean the 3-hour tour, or an economy version? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/47 "2022-06-20T21:55:59Z")
Oops! Yes! I am old. ETA — and, I just _ **had to** _ fix that! ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/48 "2022-06-20T21:57:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > First, if you are interested in the **U-505** , haunt used bookstores until you find a copy of Daniel Gallery’s _Away All Boats_. Gallery was the commander of the task force that captured her. Boy, they they get into trouble for that! He went on to be a moderately successful novelist whose books are sadly out of print and have been for decades. For a view from the other side of the war, you might try to find Hans Goebler’s (sp?) _Steel Boat, Iron Hearts_. Mr Goebler was a German crewman aboard the U505. Fascinating. I don’t know if it’s still available, but I got my copy at the Museum’s U505 gift shop. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/49 "2022-06-20T22:00:15Z")
Good, now I can correct my previous: The title of the book is _Clear the Decks_. _Away All Boats_ was a novel of his. _Steel Boats, Iron Hearts_ sounds familiar to me. Sounds like a book I would have looked for at the library. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/50 "2022-06-21T00:17:38Z")
Another vote for USS Massachusetts. Been there probably 30 times though my life (lived 10 minutes from Fall River my whole life, and had a Navy family). Much of the ship has been restored and is fairly well maintained, even given 50 years of vandalism. My wife got me a ticket for their “firepower tour,” where you spend the day with very knowledgeable staff learning everything there is to know about the 16" guns and the fire control systems. Short of actually loading and firing a gun, you get hands on with everything. USS Joseph P. Kennedy, also at Battleship Cove, is in great shape with new spaces they keep opening. Awesome example of a WW2 ship upgraded to a cold war vessel. Kennedy was in the movie Thirteen Days, too - she played herself. USS Midway was a great tour, too. Thats a full day visit - there’s a lot to see between the aircraft on display and the spaces they have open. Have a trip planned to USS New Jersey later this summer. Ryan’s videos have inspired me (even bought a 2’ piece of her teak deck). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/51 "2022-06-21T03:58:34Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > The Queen Mary used to be worth a visit but it’s fallen on hard times lately and I don’t know what kind of shape it’s in these days. This reminded me of the Russian sub moored next to the QM when I worked in Long Beach 20 years ago. The good news: It’s still there! The bad news:… _The Foxtrot-class Soviet submarine, known as the Scorpion, was moored next to the Queen Mary as a tourist attraction for nearly two decades before it was closed to the public in 2015 after it fell into disrepair. The sub has since sat abandoned and infested with raccoons._ > **[Long Beach mulls lawsuit over abandoned Soviet submarine](https://lbpost.com/news/long-beach-mulls-lawsuit-over-abandoned-soviet-submarine/)** > > Removing the Scorpion submarine would be a major undertaking as the vessel spans the length of a football field and sits behind a thick rock wall surrounding the Queen Mary. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/52 "2022-06-21T04:25:35Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > My parents visited me here in San Francisco around 1988 or so, and we toured the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a liberty ship. It’s the only ship tour I’ve ever been on. It was meaningful to us because my father was a merchant seaman in WWII and served on some very similar ships. [_Red Oak Victory_](https://redoakvictory.us/) is the last remaining Victory ship and is located in Richmond, California. She is named after Red Oak, Iowa, the town with the highest per capita losses during WWII. She spent most of her WWII career at [Ulithi](https://veteransbreakfastclub.org/ulithi-atoll/) dispensing ordnance. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/53 "2022-06-21T04:33:50Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > First, if you are interested in the **U-505** , haunt used bookstores until you find a copy of Daniel Gallery’s _Away All Boats_. _Twenty Million Tons under the Sea_ is the title. Renamed to U505. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/54 "2022-06-21T06:07:02Z")
Not all museum ships per se: USS Massachusetts USS Constitution USS Missouri USS Cassin Young USS Edson USS Hazard And in my own state USS Cobia. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/55 "2022-06-21T11:59:23Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Not all museum ships per se: What’s the definition of “museum ship”? Wikipedia calls the USS Cassin Young a “museum ship” in more than one entry > **[Category:Museum ships in Massachusetts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Museum_ships_in_Massachusetts)** > > The following 20 pages are in this category, out of 20 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/56 "2022-06-21T16:50:48Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > being able to ride the aircraft elevator on the Hornet That reminds me: Did you see / ride the escalator on the Hornet? I think it went from the flight deck level to higher up the bridge structure. I wondered it if was original or added later. Was just a normal escalator, like the kind you see in a subway or shopping mall. But not usually a ship. (Do they have these in cruise ships? I wouldn’t know.) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/57 "2022-06-21T16:57:10Z")
Iirc I’ve been in plenty of aircraft carriers with escalators, apparently it’s a real thing but some of them are permanently off since they don’t confirm to commercial safety specifications. The one carrier I was on with a working escalator had to retrofit a commercial one into it. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/58 "2022-06-21T16:59:12Z")
HMS Victory (in Portsmouth in the UK) is an all time great for me. Though I’ve not been as an adult, and while there of plenty of things that were mind blowing as a little kid that are fairly underwhelming now, I would imagine it holds up. Its an obvious one but the USS Abraham Lincoln in NY is really impressive, the ship itself is impressive but the display of aircraft is better than anything I’ve seen in the US outside the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. A less well known one in the SF Bay Area that is also quite impressive is the USS Hornet in the East Bay. There is also Roskilde ship musuem in Denmark which is pretty impressive, though you can’t actually go on the boats, so not sure if it counts? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/59 "2022-06-21T17:05:36Z")
Escalators had to be above the water line. They generally went from the Hangar Bay or one deck below the Hangar Bay to the deck below the flight deck. On the USS Ranger the one escalator went from the [Ready Rooms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_room) on the 2nd Deck (1 below Hangar Bay) up to the O3 level (1 below flight Deck). There was no down escalator. Technically they were for pilots only. But I recall there being exceptions, just not what the exceptions were. I did help fix it once or twice. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/60 "2022-06-21T18:44:41Z")
Interesting, yeah I was told on the USS Midway the escalator was so pilots or flight crew in their bulky flight gear didn’t have to go up those really annoying steep ladders everywhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476.md?page=4)