Navy Museum Development Foundation Board President Al Konetzni, a retired three-star admiral, US Naval History and Heritage Command director Samuel J. Cox, a retired rear admiral, and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro join Yeoman 2nd Class Caroline Ficklin in cutting the Navy's birthday cake at the National Museum of the US Navy dduring an event celebrating the Navy’s 247th birthday. That facility is slated to be replaced by a new museum located just outside the Washington Navy Yard. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Abigayle Lutz.
Armed with a $39.5 million war chest and a nonprofit foundation to raise five times that much in donations, the Pentagon is steaming full speed ahead with a plan to erect a gleaming flagship museum to honor the US Navy, and it’ll be homeported in the nation’s capital.
“The exhibits of this new museum will create a living memorial to the US Navy’s heritage of victory and valor, bringing to life the human experiences of serving at sea,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro declared at the Washington Navy Yard on Tuesday, Oct. 18, during a celebration of the sea service’s 247th birthday. “It will give all the visitors of the future museum — regardless of their previous military experience — a greater appreciation and understanding of the economic and diplomatic importance of what a strong and robust Navy means to our national and economic security.”
And Del Toro wants the National Museum of the United States Navy’s campus to sprawl across six acres of prime DC property just outside the Navy Yard’s Tingey Gate, atop land acquired through exchange or direct purchase. Pentagon officials published a draft environmental impact statement outlining the project on Friday.
By locating the museum outside the Navy Yard, visitors also won’t have to score day passes from the gate guards, a post-9/11 headache for tourists hoping to visit Beltway installations.
An artist's rendering of the proposed National Museum of the United States Navy, which is slated to be built next to the Washington Navy Yard by 2025. US Navy image.
The brass hope to open the collections to the public, free of charge, on Oct. 13, 2025, the Navy’s 250th birthday.
Officials estimate construction will cost $204 million, although future phases could hike expenditures to $450 million. It depends on how much the foundation rakes in from private donations.
Bradley Carlson, the executive director of the DC-based Navy Museum Development Foundation, told Coffee or Die Magazine that Wednesday marked “Day 1” on the charity’s fundraising push. He was only waiting for the property plan to be finalized by the secretary of the Navy before pushing off.
“This project is designed to inspire the next generation of sailors and their leaders,” said Carlson, a US Naval Academy grad and former Surface Warfare Officer in the tin can fleet. “Our nation is what it is today because of sea power, and this museum will reflect that.”
Carlson’s team of 10 staffers will operate alongside a program office launched by US Naval History and Heritage Command to design and build the facility, which is modeled partly on the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia.
An artist's rendering of the proposed National Museum of the United States Navy, which is slated to be built next to the Washington Navy Yard by 2025. US Navy image.
Carlson said the Corps’ museum soon became known as “Marine House,” a place where units and veterans’ organizations staged reunions, change of command and retirement ceremonies, and many other ceremonial functions.
Carlson hopes the Navy’s museum will become a star in the constellation of DC tourist stops, helping fulfill what he called a larger military mission to “educate and inspire” all Americans.
The adjoining Navy Yard will remain the administrative “Quarterdeck of the Navy” — home to the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Reactors, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, and the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps — but many of its ceremonial functions can play out beyond its brick walls, in the museum.
"This is an exciting, tangible step toward realizing Navy leadership’s long-held vision to build a state-of-the-art museum that shares with the American public the incredible history of their nation’s Navy,” retired Rear Adm. Sam Cox, the director of US Naval History and Heritage Command, said in a prepared statement released Tuesday.
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Carl Prine is a former senior editor at Coffee or Die Magazine. He has worked at Navy Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
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