Museum Ships - Europe

Comments

1. November 02, 2018Salem said...

   The Vasa is amazing and well worth a visit. They've got so much historical material that really contextualise the ship, and it's basically intact and in amazing condition (at least for now...). Plus the the museum has been brilliantly built around it to allow great viewing. It really puts the Mary Rose to shame.

   However, I'd emphasise that it's a ship in a museum, not a museum ship. It can't float, you can't go on it or even touch it, and it's just not that kind of experience. Of the actual museum ships I've been to, HMS Belfast is the best. And it's also right next to the Golden Hinde, which is shockingly missing from your list!

2. November 02, 2018bean said...

   The original Wikipedia list I drew from doesn't contain replica ships, and the formats weren't quite compatible, so I didn't add them. The Golden Hinde is a replica, not an original.

3. November 02, 2018doctorpat said...

   The only one I've been to is HMS Belfast, which was pretty good. But much smaller and a much shorter visit than USS Midway (the only other ship you guys would know that I've been to).

   I did get to explain to my Chinese companions about the damage caused to Belfast by the Chinese. They had no idea at all that England and China had ever been in conflict in the 20th century.

4. November 03, 2018Lambert said...

   Wasn't expecting to see Duxford on a list of museum ships.
   I wonder whether their Sunderland ought to be added.

   Been to the SS Great Britain. It was a good while ago, but I remember it being decent.

5. November 04, 2018Karsten said...

   If you want to distinguish “ships in a museum”, then the submarine U1 in Munich is also one of these. You can’t go inside, but the hull has been opened to allow visitors to see inside. You can get an idea on the web page of the Deutsches Museum.

6. November 06, 2018Aapje said...

   I visited the MLV CASTOR not too long ago (by chance). It's not actually a museum or part of a museum, but just a docked ship. However, the history of the ship which you can read online is fascinating. It was built to be multi-functional, designed to be a pilot ship, but also to evacuate the royal family during nuclear war or such. In that case, the pilots would be kicked off the ship to perish. Ouch.

   It was also designed to supply other ships, to attack targets out on sea as an advanced outpost and as a communications vessel for Atlantic convoys.

   After being decommissioned, it was briefly used as a hydrographic survey vessel, but then was sold to a church. They renamed the ship to 'Redeemer' and roamed the oceans to save souls. Then she was sold to a owner whose plans fell through and who stopped maintaining the ship. Thankfully, the ship was then rescued from demolition by a foundation and is now cared for by volunteers.

   It again has its cannons now (2x 20mm Oerlikons, 2x 40 mm Bofors). In the past, it could also be outfitted with depth charges.

7. November 06, 2018bean said...

   Things I did not notice while putting this list together: THEY TURNED LENIN INTO A MUSEUM? I repeat, THEY TURNED LENIN INTO A MUSEUM!? I suppose the glow from all the radiation would allow them to save on power bills, but that's pretty much the only museum ship on Earth I'd have serious qualms about visiting, at least before I had kids.

8. November 09, 2018Evil4Zerggin said...

   Wow, you weren't kidding:

   Once the leak was found, it became apparent that the sledgehammer damage could not be repaired; subsequently, all three reactors were removed by blowing them off the ship with shaped charges above a burial site off Novaya Zemlya