Royal Navy Submarine Museum

The Royal Navy Submarine Museum is located just a stone’s throw away from the busy Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. As home to HMS Alliance and 4 other submarines including the Royal Navy’s first submarine, Holland I, the museum takes an interactive approach to history.

Visitors can walk in and around the 5 submarines, experiencing for themselves what life on one of the vessels would have been like during their deployment.

Royal Navy Submarine Museum history

First established in 1963 with a small and rather unknown collection, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum really came into its own 15 years later, when it acquired HMS Alliance and installed it as its main attraction. Over the years, the museum’s collection grew and today houses a total of 9 submarines and a large collection of submarine memorabilia.

Among the 9 historic submarines that make up the museum’s collection are: Holland I, the first submarine commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1901; HMS X24, which saw service during World War Two; the German torpedo submarine Biber; and HMS Alliance, commissioned in 1947.

Each submarine is paired with a gallery of information pertaining to its history, giving children and adults alike the chance to see the history they are reading about.

Royal Navy Submarine Museum today

Visitors can partake in 40-minute guided tours of HMS Alliance given by a submariner who will regale his audience with stories of life below the sea. Or you can wander by yourself as the children explore the newly opened ‘Horrible Science of Submarines’ exhibition.

The museum also contains an extensive collection of historic photographs and artefacts available for visitors to browse, including medals, equipment, art and personal effects of those who lived and served onboard the vessels and ones like them.

Throughout the year the museum hosts a variety of talks, presentations and readings by a variety of guests. Whichever time of year you choose to visit there is bound to be something for all the family.

Getting to Royal Navy Submarine Museum

The museum is located in Gosport near Portsmouth, and can be reached via Junction 11 of the M27. Following this the A32 may be taken towards Gosport following the brown tourist signs, with free parking available at the site.

The nearest train station is Portsmouth Harbour, from which the ferry to Gosport may be taken.