U.S. Ship Memorials and Museums


This table attempts to list all the ships and boats, wherever built, that have been retired from active service and preserved in the U.S. either as a memorial or as a museum, if not both.  Some are not technically either museums or memorials, just old boats that have been rescued from the scrap yard.  Pleasure boats and boats that are so small that they do not require a crew are not included.  Replicas are not included either, only original vessels.  It's quite a list: who would have thought that there were so many products of the shipbuilder's art (with an average age of about 80) preserved and on public display all over the U.S. (in 40 states and the District of Columbia)?  It's curious, however, that the Smithsonian Institution isn't represented here.

A lot of credit for this table goes to Kevin Kopp, who has inundated me with links to boats that I would probably never have found otherwise: thanks, Kevin.  Anyone who finds any more or notices any errors, please e-mail me at timcolton@aol.com.

Click here to see the same data presented geographically.

Name Type Pennant # Built By Builder's Location Built Museum Location
A. J. Meerwald Oyster Schooner   Stowman & Sons Camden NJ 1928 Bayshore Discovery Project Port Norris NJ
Acacia Buoy Tender WLB 180 Zenith Dredge Duluth MN 1944 American Academy of Industry Chicago IL
Adventure Schooner   John F. James & Son Essex MA 1926 Schooner Adventure Gloucester MA
Alabama Battleship BB 60 Norfolk NSY Portsmouth VA 1942 Battleship Memorial Park Mobile AL
Albacore Submarine SS 569 Portsmouth NSY Kittery ME 1953 Albacore Museum and Park Portsmouth NH
Alma Schooner   Fred Siemer San Francisco CA 1891 San Francisco Maritime Museum San Francisco CA
Aluminaut Deep Submergence Vessel   Electric Boat Groton CT 1964 Science Museum of Virginia Richmond VA
Ambrose Channel Lightship LV 87 New York Shipbuilding Camden NJ 1907 South Street Seaport New York NY
American Victory Victory Ship   California Shipbuilding Los Angeles CA 1945 American Victory Mariners Memorial Tampa FL
Angels Gate Tug ST 695 Decatur Iron Works Decatur AL 1944 Los Angeles Maritime Museum San Pedro CA
Aries Hydrofoil Gunboat PHM 5 Boeing Marine Systems Seattle WA 1982 USS Aries Memorial Brunswick MO
Arizona Battleship BB 39 New York NSY Brooklyn NY 1916 USS Arizona Memorial Museum Pearl Harbor HI
C. L. Churchill Tug     Cohasset MA 1964 Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Vergennes VT
Arthur Foss Tug     Portland OR 1889 Northwest Seaport Seattle WA
Balclutha Sailing Ship   Charles Connell & Co. Glasgow, Scotland 1886 San Francisco Maritime Museum San Francisco CA
Baltimore Tug   Skinner Shipbuilding Baltimore MD 1906 Baltimore Museum of Industry Baltimore MD
Barbara H Sternwheel Towboat   Marietta Manufacturing Point Pleasant WV 1923 Historic Sternwheeler Preservation Society Lamb IN
Barry Destroyer DD 933 Bath Iron Works Bath ME 1956 Navy Museum Washington DC
Batfish Submarine SS 310 Portsmouth NSY Kittery ME 1943 Muskogee War Memorial Park Muskogee OK
Bayfield Tug ST 2023 Roamer Boat Co. Holland MI 1953 Canal Park Duluth MN
Becuna Submarine SS 319 Electric Boat Groton CT 1944 Independence Seaport Museum Philadelphia PA
Belle of Louisville Steamboat   James Rees & Sons Pittsburgh PA 1914 Belle of Louisville Louisville KY
Berkeley Steam Ferry   Union Brass & Iron Works San Francisco CA 1898 Maritime Museum of San Diego San Diego CA
Bertha Canadian Lumber Tug   Armstrong Whitworth Newcastle, England 1925 Pier 63 Maritime Museum New York NY
Blueback Submarine SS 581 Ingalls Shipbuilding Pascagoula MS 1960 Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Portland OR
Bolster Rescue and Salvage Tug ARS 38 Basalt Rock Co. Napa CA 1945 American Fleet Tug Museum San Rafael CA
Bowfin Submarine SS 287 Portsmouth NSY Kittery ME 1943 USS Bowfin Museum and Park Pearl Harbor HI
Bramble Buoy Tender WLB 392 Zenith Dredge Duluth MN 1944 Port Huron Museum Port Huron MI
Brilliant Schooner   Henry B. Nevins, Inc. City Island NY 1932 Mystic Seaport Mystic CT
Buddy O Fishing Tug   Sturgeon Bay Boat Works Sturgeon Bay WI 1936 Rogers Street Fishing Village Two Rivers WI
Buffalo Tug       1922 Waterford Maritime Historical Society Waterford NY
C. A. Thayer Schooner   Hans Ditlev Bendixsen Fairhaven CA 1895 San Francisco Maritime Museum San Francisco CA
Cairo Gunboat   James B. Eads Mound City IL