# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/101 "2023-04-06T15:24:43Z")
Museum/memorial vessels I’ve toured: the Intrepid in NY, the Nautilus in Groton, the Columbus carvel replicas (agreed that one goes like “mofo tried to cross the ocean blind in **that**???”), HMCS Sackville in Halifax. Greatly liked this last one, being somewhat different and providing a glimpse at the smaller vessels of the Atlantic war (accessible seasonally only). ---
**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:** [April 6, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/102 "2023-04-06T16:26:19Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > But sometime around the summer of love the hippies moved into the hull and set it on fire. [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gj%C3%B8a#Preservation) doesn’t mention a fire but that she had badly deteriorated and was returned to Norway in 1972 and is on display in Oslo. > Over the following decades _Gjøa_ slowly deteriorated, and by 1939 she was in poor condition. Refurbishment was delayed by [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), and repairs were not completed until 1949. Being displayed outdoors and having faced 66 years of high winds, ocean salt and sand, the boat once again suffered deterioration, until in 1972, with the help of Erik Krag, a Danish American shipping company owner of San Francisco, _Gjøa_ was returned to Norway. Erik Krag was knighted by the King of Norway for his efforts in shipping home _Gjøa_.[[11]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gj%C3%B8a#cite_note-11) Edit: What **Toffe** said. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/103 "2023-04-06T16:43:12Z")
I didn’t see this thread last year and thus did not take the opportunity to brag that I stayed overnight on the USS Massachusetts some 35+ years ago when [it was an AYH youth hostel.](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-10-25-8703200663-story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/104 "2023-04-07T09:07:26Z")
My uncle was a catapult shooter on the carrier Oriskany which was sunk as an artificial reef for sport divers. I don’t know if she would be considered a museum ship? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2023, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/105 "2023-04-07T10:39:38Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > We took a tour of a WW2 sub in Michigan somewhere, when the kid was about 2 or something. Probably the USS Silversides? > **[USS Silversides Museum: Reliving Naval History. WW2 Submarine Museum](https://silversidesmuseum.org/)** > > Come tour a real World War 2 Submarine and visit our military museum in Muskegon, Michigan. Sleep overnight on the submarine! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/106 "2023-04-08T13:51:44Z")
Something a little different is a [museum boat](https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c04503/). _Changyu_ 3705 was a North Korean spy ship disguised as a fishing boat and sunk by the Japanese Coast Guard in 2001. It was raised from the ocean floor and is on display in Yokohama. The beating it took from the Japanese ships is interesting. Lots of holes. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/107 "2023-04-09T05:01:03Z")
nice to see the abalama is still there … i seen it in 86 or 7 and walked 90 percent of it grandma has some neat pics of me and bro sitting in some of the gunner seats … ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/108 "2023-04-09T06:39:59Z")
And the USS Bowfin is within walking distance. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/109 "2023-04-10T23:17:46Z")
I’ve been to the North Carolina a few times, although I was probably a teenager the last time I visited it. I don’t have much more to add other than I concur with what others have said. I’ve also been to the USS Pampanito in San Francisco, a WWII era submarine (Submarines count, right? Wikipedia lists it as a museum ship). I felt quite claustrophobic when I was inside it, which honestly detracted from my enjoyment. I really just couldn’t wait to get out of there, but I couldn’t, because there were other people in front of and behind me (and the fact that people were blocking my exit in both directions probably contributed to my discomfort). Thankfully it doesn’t take that long to go through it; you enter through a hatch near the stern, walk through the sub, and come out a hatch near the bow. After that experience, I was hesitant to tour the USS Growler, a Cold War era sub moored near the Intrepid in NYC. But that more modern sub was much more spacious inside, and I felt just fine. As for the Intrepid itself, it was fun and would recommend it, but it felt like the focus was more on the collection of historical aircraft on display rather than on the aircraft carrier itself. ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/110 "2023-04-11T18:05:34Z")
As far as museum ships go, I don’t think you could beat the drydock tour of _Texas_ right now. The hull is open and steelwork not seen in 100 years is on display as the ship is made watertight again. Plus, how many chances do you get to have your picture taken underneath a dreadnaught? > **[Experience History](https://battleshiptexas.org/drydock/)** > > Commissioned in 1914 as the most powerful weapon in the world, Battleship Texas is credited with the introduction and innovation of advances in gunnery, aviation, and radar. She is the last surviving Dreadnought as well as the only battleship in... ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476/111 "2023-04-11T19:29:26Z")
HMS Victory was supercool, but I liked HMS Warrior even more since it was built during the changeover to steam power. And because one is able to wander around in it at will instead of being a captive of a very limited tour. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-been-to-any-museum-ships-thoughts-on-best-ones/966476.md?page=5)