National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth facts for kids
The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth is a cool museum in Portsmouth, England. It tells the amazing story of the Royal Navy, which is the UK's navy. You can find it inside the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, right next to where real navy ships are.
History of the Museum
The museum first opened its doors in 1911. Back then, it was called the Dockyard Museum. A man named Mr. Mark Edwin Pescott-Frost, who loved naval history, had the idea to start it. He worked hard to save important items from the navy for future generations. Thanks to him, many interesting things are still on display today! He even received an award in 1916 for his efforts.
In 1985, the museum became more independent from the Ministry of Defence. Its name changed to the "Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth."
Later, in 2008, a bigger group called the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) was created. This group helps manage all naval heritage. In 2010, the Portsmouth museum joined this larger group and changed its name again to "National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth."
Buildings and What You Can See
The museum is in three buildings that face the famous ship, HMS Victory. Two of these buildings, No. 11 Storehouse (built in 1763) and No. 10 Storehouse (built in 1776), are very old and important. The Victory Gallery is a newer building from 1938, made just for the museum.
You can also explore HMS M33, which is a special warship called a Monitor. It was used in World War I and opened to visitors in 2015, exactly 100 years after it was built.
- The No. 11 Storehouse shows exhibits about the Age of Sail. This was a time when ships used sails to travel and fight.
- The No. 10 Storehouse, called the Babcock Galleries, opened in 2014. It has a new exhibit about the Navy in the 20th and 21st centuries. You can also see the Trafalgar Sail here. This is a huge sail from HMS Victory, and it's one of the biggest original items left from the famous Battle of Trafalgar. A cool glass walkway connects these two old buildings.
- The Victory Gallery tells the story of HMS Victory and the people who lived and fought on board.
- The Nelson Gallery is all about Horatio, Viscount Nelson, a very famous British admiral.
- The Sailing Navy Gallery shows what life was like at sea when ships relied on sails.
- HMS Hear My Story shares amazing, often untold, stories from ordinary men, women, and ships that shaped the Navy's history over the last 100 years.
