USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum Facts for Kids

Significant dates

USS Hornet (CV-12) (Aircraft Carrier)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark

USS Hornet docked in Alameda
NRHP reference No.	91002065
Added to NRHP	December 4, 1991
Designated NHL	December 4, 1991

A preserved F-14 Tomcat jet on the flight deck

An SH-2F Seasprite helicopter on display

A Piasecki HUP-1 Retriever helicopter

A Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King helicopter

A T-28B Trojan training plane

A TBM Avenger with folded wings and a torpedo

The USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum is a special museum ship located in Alameda, California. It's built on a real aircraft carrier named USS Hornet.

This museum lets you explore a huge ship that was once part of the US Navy. You can see amazing exhibits about space travel, especially the NASA Apollo missions to the Moon. There are also many old airplanes from Second World War and the early jet age.

The USS Hornet itself has a rich history. It was launched during World War II and fought in important battles. After the war, it helped search for submarines and keep the skies safe. It also played a key role in space exploration, recovering astronauts returning from space. The ship became a museum in 1998 after being recognized as a historic landmark.

The Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation works to keep the legacy of the USS Hornet alive. They honor its role in naval aviation, defending the United States, and its part in the Apollo Program and space exploration.

Visiting the USS Hornet Museum
Aircraft on Display
Apollo Moon Mission Display
CarrierCon: A Fun Convention
Exterior and Deck Views
Inside the USS Hornet
More to Explore

Visiting the USS Hornet Museum

The USS Hornet Museum first opened its doors to visitors on October 17, 1998. A very special guest, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, spoke at the opening. He was one of the first people to walk on the Moon!

When you visit, you can walk around the ship by yourself. You can explore the flight deck, where planes took off and landed, and the hangar deck, where they were stored. You can also go down to the first deck below. If you want to learn even more, museum guides called docents can lead you on tours. They can show you the ship's navigation areas and even parts of the engine room.

Aircraft on Display

The USS Hornet Museum has many different aircraft for you to see. These include propeller planes, jet planes, and rotorcraft like helicopters. The planes are from the 1940s through the 1980s. You can get very close to these aircraft on the flight deck and the hangar deck. Sometimes, planes are moved between decks using the ship's large aircraft elevator.

Here are some of the cool aircraft you can see:

TBM-3E Avenger: A torpedo bomber from World War II.
T-28B Trojan: A military training plane.
US-2B Tracker: An aircraft used to find submarines.
FJ-2 Fury: A fast jet fighter from the 1950s.
TA-4J Skyhawk: A trainer jet.
F8U-1 Crusader: A supersonic fighter jet from the Vietnam War era.
S-3B Viking: A long-range aircraft for many missions.
F-14A Tomcat: A famous jet fighter that served in the Gulf War.
F-4J Phantom II: A multi-purpose jet fighter from the Vietnam era.
HUP-1 Retriever: A helicopter used for search and rescue.
SH-2F Seasprite: A utility helicopter retired in the 1990s.
SH-3H Sea King: An all-weather helicopter designed to find submarines.
UH-34D Seahorse: A helicopter used to transport people during the Vietnam War.
FM-2 Wildcat: A fighter plane from World War II.

Apollo Moon Mission Display

The USS Hornet played a very important role in space history! In 1969, it was chosen to be the main recovery ship for the Apollo 11 Moon mission. This meant the Hornet was there to pick up the first astronauts who landed on the Moon after they splashed down back on Earth. Just four months later, the Hornet also recovered the crew of Apollo 12.

The USS Hornet Museum has the biggest Apollo Program exhibit on the West Coast of the United States. You can see real artifacts from these amazing missions, including:

The Apollo Command Module CSM-011: This module was used for a test flight before the Moon landings.
A Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF): This was a special trailer used by the Apollo 14 astronauts after they returned to Earth. It kept them separate to make sure they didn't bring back any unknown germs from space.
An SH-3H Sea King helicopter: This helicopter was used in the 1995 movie Apollo 13.
Photos and souvenirs from the Apollo 11 and 12 splashdowns.

CarrierCon: A Fun Convention

The Hornet Museum also hosts a cool event called CarrierCon. This is a fan convention for people who love anime, video games, comics, and cosplay (dressing up as characters). In 2023, CarrierCon worked with Azur Lane, a popular mobile game. This game features "shipgirls," which are characters based on real ships, including the Hornet! Later that year, the Hornet was chosen to host Azur Lane's live event celebrating its 5th anniversary.