by Matthew Adams
As the location of a Royal Navy naval base Portsmouth has a fascinating maritime heritage. There visitors can visit the Historic Dockyard, at Queen Street, which includes a variety of naval museums such as the National Museum Royal Navy Portsmouth. The museum documents the rich history of the Royal Navy from the age of sail, to the world wars and up to more recent conflicts in the Gulf.
The museum underwent substantial expansion in 2014.
A variety of recently added high-tech galleries tell the story of the Royal Navy from the dreadnought to present day maritime operations. The museum’s HMS Hear My Story galleries draw upon accounts, photographs, mementos and film from more than 1,000 Royal Navy naval personnel. The museum curator Matthew Sheldon stated, “Through our state-of-the-art interactive displays and exhibitions, we hope it will bring our collections alive – and into the 21st Century – for everyone to discover.”
So now the museum comprises of four primary exhibitions. At the front end of the museum is a Nelson gallery, which documents the naval career of the Royal Navy’s famous officer. The Sailing Navy exhibition covers the wooden ship history of the Royal Navy. Then there are the Babcock Galleries that amount to about half the museum. They include the HMS Hear My Story and Racing to War exhibition, which looks at the first few months of World War One’s naval engagements.
Nelson was a Royal Navy officer who won a number of naval battles during the Napoleonic Wars. In the Nelson gallery visitors will find artifacts from naval battles such as the Battle of Trafalgar, Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Cape St Vincent and the Battle of Copenhagen. There are a variety of artifacts such as pottery mugs, jugs, vases, pocket watches, porcelain cups and medals from those battles displayed in display cabinets at front of the exhibition.
A small glass tunnel connects the Sailing Navy exhibition with the Babcock Galleries. In that tunnel there is a 4-inch gun from the destroyer HMS Lance. The Lance was a destroyer that opened fire on the Königin Luise minelayer off the Dutch coast just a day after Britain declared war with Germany in World War One. It sank the minelayer with the 4-inch gun in the museum.
After passing through the tunnel, visitors enter the HMS Hear My Story galleries. The galleries include narratives which you can listen to with headphones. Those stories bring you closer than ever before to the real Royal Navy.
Within the galleries there is a small open cinema that runs the 15-minute film All of One Company. The film combines film, sound effects and testimonies that provide further insight on the Battle of Jutland, Battle of Atlantic and the Falklands War. Just in front of the All of One Company cinema is a smaller TV display that tells visitors about how the Royal Navy has shrunk in size, the locations of British Empire naval bases and when Royal Marine land battles took place.
However, the interactive timeline is perhaps the main highlight of the new galleries. That shows visitors a 20th/21st century timeline of the Royal Navy. The timeline provides details for Royal Navy battles and their other operations, which you can open with your fingertips. The table also includes ships that you can move across the virtual oceans.
There are a number of display cases within the galleries showing artifacts from numerous battles and wars. Among them are a Battle of Jutland, Battle of Atlantic and Falklands War display cases. The Jutland case displays a silver model of the HMS Iron Duke, a telescope used during the battle and the remains of a German armor-piercing shell fired at the HMS Tiger among other artifacts
The Changing Technology section of HMS Hear My Story galleries has a couple of touch-screen games. In those games players detect submarines with sonar pulses and sink them with depth-charges. That section of the museum also showcases a Bofors Gun Mark 1, which was one of the Royal Navy’s most effective anti-aircraft guns in WW2.
Undoubtedly, the new Babcock Galleries have transformed the National Museum Royal Navy Portsmouth into a much more exciting museum. It is situated at the Historic Dockyard just opposite the HMS Victory, and has a Ł13 admission fee. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer, but closes at 4.15 p.m. in the winter. After leaving the National Museum Royal Navy Portsmouth, visitors can also check out some of the other great museums at the dockyard.
Portsmouth Historic Dockyards and HMS Victory Tour from London
If You Go:
About the author:
Matthew Adams is a freelancer who has produced a variety of articles for various publications and websites such as Swing Golf Magazine,TripAdvisor, Coed Magazine the Washington Post and Vagabundo Travel. Matthew is also the author of Battles of the Pacific War 1941 – 1945. Check out the book’s blog at battlesofthepacificwar.blogspot.co.uk
All photos are by Matthew Adams:
1. The Nelson gallery
2. The Sailing Navy exhibition
3. HMS Destroyer gun
4. The Royal Navy timeline
However, first I just had to drop in at the Historic Dockyard. It is here that a variety of naval museums are located such as the Royal Naval Museum and Mary Rose Museum. As mentioned the Historic Dockyard includes the HMS Warrior, which can also be considered a museum. Whilst you’ll need tickets for the ships, you can still enter the dockyard without tickets.
After exiting the Historic Dockyard, the Millennium Promenade will take you to Gunwharf Quay right next to the train station. The Gunwharf shopping precinct is a more recent addition to Portsmouth that opened in 2001. It includes a bowlplex, cinema, Grosvenor Casino and a Holiday Inn Express hotel at the Gunwharf Quays Plaza which is ideal for any longer stay in Portsmouth.
Modern Portsmouth soon gives way to Old Portsmouth along the Millennium Promenade which links Gunwharf with Portsmouth Old Town. This is where the trail gets interesting! After leaving Gunwharf, I reached the Renaissance Trail section of the Millennium Promenade. The Renaissance Trail passes through Portsmouth Old Town and ends at Clarence Pier.
Southsea Seafront begins at Clarence Esplanade, and the Victorian seafront continues for about four miles. At the esplanade I reached Clarence Pier and its fair that includes the small Skyward roller coaster, dodgems as well as miniature golf. However, the fair remains closed until March. Although the adjacent arcades are open, and they also include the Coffee Cup café and Wimpy Bar. The Premier Inn and Holiday Inn are two nearby hotels next to Clarence Pier which could be suitable accommodation for visitors.
One of the highlights of the Southsea Seafront is perhaps the D-Day Museum at Castle Field. This is a museum that documents the 1944 D-Day landings in France. It includes the Operation Overlord embroidery which is an 83 meters long D-Day textile. Outside the museum an American Sherman tank and a British Churchill tank are also displayed.
