These are notable warships (submarines, aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, battleships) that have been decommissioned (mostly – I’m looking at you, USS Constitution, and you, HMS Victory!) and are now visitor attractions, floating, dry-docked or in museum buildings.
| Ship | Location | Desc |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama, USS Battleship, 1942 |
USA – Mobile, Alabama | Wet-berthed WW2 battleship that had a busy, if brief (5 yrs) service. |
| Aurora Cruiser, 1903 |
Russia – St. Petersburg | Wet-berthed historic cruiser that fired the first shot of the October Revolution. More info… |
| B-39 Submarine, 1967 |
USA – San Diego, CA | Wet-berthed former Foxtrot class diesel-electric Soviet submarine now moored in the Maritime Museum of San Diego. |
| B-396 Submarine, 1980 |
Russia – Moscow | Wet-berthed former Tango class diesel Soviet submarine ‘Novosibirsky Komsomolets’ now a museum display on the Moscow river since 2006. |
| B-413 Submarine, 1968 |
Kaliningrad – Konigsburg | Wet-berthed former diesel-electric Soviet submarine at the Museum of the World Ocean, Kaliningrad. |
| Belfast, HMS Cruiser, 1938 |
UK – London | Wet-berthed WW2 cruiser berthed next to tower bridge in London. |
| Blyskawica, ORP Destroyer, 1937 |
Poland – Gdynia | Wet-berthed WW2 Polish destroyer. The world’s oldest preserved destroyer. |
| Cassin Young, USS Destroyer, 1943 |
USA – Boston, MA | Fletcher class destroyer, served in WW2 and the Korean War. Now wet-berthed at the National Historical park in Boston. |
| Cod, USS Submarine, 1942 |
USA – Cleveland, OH | Wet-berthed WW2 era, GATO class fleet submarine. |
| Constitution, USS Sail, 1797 |
USA – Charleston, MS | Wet-berthed heavy frigate. The world’s oldest commissioned warship in active service. More info… |
| Drum, USS Submarine, 1941 |
USA – Mobile, Alabama | Dry-berthed WW2 Gato class submarine. Saw early action in the Pacific. |
| Edson, USS Destroyer, 1958 |
USA – Bay City, MI | Forrest Sherman-class destroyer and Vietnam War veteran, now wet-berthed on the Saginaw River. |
| Espadon Submarine, 1958 |
France – St Nazaire | Wet-berthed French Narval class submarine now on display in the former U-boat pens. |
| Georgios Averof Cruiser, 1910 |
Greece – Faliron | Wet-berthed Greek armoured cruiser More info… |
| Hornet, USS Aircraft Carrier, 1943 |
USA – Alameda, CA | Wet-berthed Essex class aircraft carrier that saw service in WW2, Vietnam, and recovered the Apollo 11 space capsule. |
| Intrepid, USS Aircraft Carrier, 1943 |
USA – New York | Wet-berthed WW2 aircraft carrier with a terrific array of aircraft exhibited on board too. More info… |
| Joseph P. Kennedy Jr, USS Destroyer, 1945 |
USA – Fall River, MS | Wet-berthed in Battleship Cove with USS Massachusetts |
| Kidd, USS Destroyer, 1943 |
USA – Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Wet-berthed WW2 destroyer with a distinguished war history in the Pacific. UPDATE 24/06/2024: USS Kidd was moved this month (June 2024) from her berth in Baton Rouge to the Thoma-Sea shipyard in Houma, Louisiana, for some much needed maintenance. She will return in spring 2025. |
| Kiev Aircraft Carrier, 1972 |
China – Tianjin | Wet-berthed former flagship of the Soviet Pacific Fleet and now, like her sister ship, Minsk, a theme park in China… or was. She still appears to be there, but a BBC news report in 2011 said she was being turned into a luxury hotel. I’ll keep her listed here until I find a link for her. |
| Lionfish, USS Submarine, 1943 |
USA – Fall River, MS | Balao-class submarine wet-berthed at Battleship Cove. |
| Maillé-Brézé Destroyer 1953 |
Nantes, France | Wet-berthed Le Maillé-Brézé (D627) is a Surcouf-class destroyer, decommissioned in 1988 and on display in the city of Nantes. She featured, with her modern gear (like radar antennae) removed or covered up, in the 2017 movie, ‘Dunkirk’. |
| Massachusetts, USS Battleship, 1941 |
USA – Fall River, MS | Wet-berthed WW2 battleship. (I visited her once. Very slender, designed to go through the Panama Canal) |
| Midway, USS Aircraft Carrier, 1945 |
USA – San Diego, CA | Wet-berthed First of the post-WW2 carriers, she has numerous exhibits on board and 27 restored aircraft. |
| Mikasi Battleship, 1900 |
Japan – Yokosuka | Wet-berthed flagship of Admiral Togo during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). |
| Minsk Aircraft Carrier, 1972 |
China – Shenzhen | Wet-berthed former Soviet aircraft carrier, now a theme park in China (like her sister ship, Kiev). She was last reported to be closed and is being relocated to Nantong, Jiangsu. I’ll keep her listed in the hope she’s re-opened as a museum ship. |
| New Jersey, USS Battleship, 1942 |
USA – Philadelphia | Wet-berthed WW2 and Korean war battleship |
| Onslow, HMAS Submarine, 1968 |
Australia – Sydney | Wet-berthed Australian navy diesel-electric submarine, that left the service only recently (1990) and is now on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum. |
| Otus, HMS Submarine, 1962 |
Germany – Rügen island | Wet-berthed Royal Navy submarine from the cold war era and later, serving during the Falkland War & the 1991 Persian Gulf war. |
| Slater, USS Destroyer, 1944 |
USA – Albany, NY | Cannon-class destroyer escort wet-berthed on the Hudson River. |
| Stewart, USS Destroyer, 1942 |
USA – Galveston, TX | Edsall-class escort destroyer dry-berthed at the Galveston Naval Museum, Seawolf Park. |
| The Sullivans, USS Destroyer, 1943 |
USA – Buffalo, NY | Fletcher class destroyer wet-berthed at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park. |
| Turner Joy, USS Destroyer, 1958 |
USA – Bremerton, WA | Wet-berthed Cold War Forrest Sherman-class destroyer. |
| U-505 Submarine, 1941 |
USA – Chicago | Dry-berthed type IXC U-boat that was famously captured intact, with its enigma code books, is now a museum exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. More info… |
| U-534 Submarine, 1942 |
UK – Birkenhead | Dry-berthed WW2 German U-boat, sunk in the Baltic, raised in 1993. More info… |
| U-995 Submarine, 1943 |
Germany – Laboe | Dry-berthed WW2 German U-boat. The only surviving type VIIC. More info… |
| Unicorn, HMS Sail, 1824 |
UK – Dundee | Wet-berthed 46-gun frigate, moored alongside without masts and rigging. |
| Vasa Sail, 1628 |
Sweden – Stockholm | Dry-berthed flagship of Swedish navy sunk in Stockholm harbour on her maiden voyage, and raised in 1961. |
| HN Velos | Thessaloniki – Greece | Former WW2 Fletcher class US destroyer transferred to the Hellenic Navy in 1958. Made famous in 1973 when her captain & crew mutinied against the anti-junta uprising. |
| Victory, HMS Sail, 1778 |
UK – Portsmouth | Dry-berthed flagship of Admiral Nelson, made famous at the battle of Trafalgar. Review here. |
Notes
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- The Historic Naval Ships Association has many of the above ships in its membership database, with a lot more detail.
- The National WW2 Museum in New Orleans is currently working on the restoration of a WW2 patrol boat, PT-305.
- Not exactly a warship, but as well as the B-396, the Naval Museum in Moscow has a rare exhibit – the Alekseyev A-90 Orlyonok Ekranoplan. Only a handful of these extraordinary ground-effect vehicles were ever made.
- SS Bandırma (web page needs translating) was an Ottoman 48m mixed-freight steam ship (not a warship), built 1878 in Paisley, Scotland, which became famous in Turkish history for carrying Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) and his entourage of 55 soldiers & administrators from Constantinople (today-Istanbul) to Samsun in May 1919, a move that gave birth to the Turkish national movement, and the Turkish War of Independence ending in the declaration of the Republic of Turkey. The original ship was broken up in 1925 but a replica was built in 2001 and opened as a dry-berthed museum ship by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 19 May 2003.
