By Royal Navy Museums has announced a date for the new £15m Royal Marines Experience at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
The former Royal Marines Museum closed in 2017 with plans to move to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and create a new centre for Royal Marines heritage. Over the last 9 years, the Royal Navy Museums Team have carefully safeguarded the historic Royal Marines collection, ready for its new home in the historic 1840’s Grade II* listed Boathouse 6 in the dockyard.
The new ‘experience’, designed for families, veterans, serving personnel, and history lovers will feature hands-on activities, multimedia displays, immersive technology and objects that reveal the people behind more than 360 years of service… and it will open on 24 October 2026.
Royal Navy Museums has developed the Experience with Royal Marines voices at its heart, drawing on serving and former Royal Marines, families and specialists, so the galleries connect heritage with today’s service.
Historic and modern artifacts on display include:
- Warrant Officer ‘Mac’ McNaghten’s AI Faw briefing model, built in secret whilst onboard HMS Ocean enroute to the Persian Gulf in 2003 and used by 40 Commandos to plan their attack on the Al Faw peninsula.
- All 10 Victoria Crosses awarded to the Royal Marines, from the Crimean War to Second World War, brought together to tell stories of exceptional bravery and service.
- A medal presentation box given to Marine David Davidson by his husband Ernest and the Royal British Legion. The decoration shows David landing in Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956.
- A Green beret worn by Marine W.G.C. ‘Molly’ MacPherson who served in 3 Troop, K Company, 42 Commando during the Falklands War. (Marines serving during the Falklands war preferred to wear Green Berets rather than helmets as they thought that the Green Beret was ‘bulletproof’.
The Experience will also have a Remembrance Room, free to enter, where families can reflect on, and remember those who gave their lives in service to their country.
