Special Exhibits and Research Besides permanent exhibits on the history of naval warfare and the naval heritage of the Narragansett Bay region, the museum routinely features special exhibits on naval and related topics of current interest to the College community and to the general public.
These presentations are generally of three to six months duration and are widely publicized in the media. The museum collection is available for research to the serious scholar and to the specialist. Prospective users should write to the Museum Director in advance, describing areas of interest and preferred times for visits. Annual Special Exhibits The museum presents at least three special exhibits a year. Major presentations (6 months), generally concerning the tactics and strategy of milestone battles, open in the spring and continue through the summer and fall. Invariably they consist of models of ships and planes, combat art and photography, maps and charts, battle diorama, and related memorabilia. Two other annual exhibits are: Matthew Perry and the Opening of Japan, 1853 - 1854, done in connection with the Newport Black Ships Festival in July, and an art show consisting of works by military and civilian employees of the Newport commands. The juried show, billed as "Navy-Newport Artists and Art," opens on the day of the Museum's Christmas Open House in December and runs through January, 1998.

Permanent Exhibits

Rhode Island and The Navy This exhibit, located in the center gallery, first floor, consists chiefly of items associated with naval events that occurred in Narragansett Bay during the Revolution, and with naval leaders and ship from the Ocean State down through the years. Included are sculptures, pictorials, flags, and ship models. Among the last named is a large admiralty model of the SLOOP PROVIDENCE, principle ship of the Rhode Island State Navy of the Revolution, and one of the first ships of the Continental Navy in 1775. Also featured are materials relating to Newport naval greats Oliver and Matthew Perry, including a model of the NIAGARA, the former's flagship in the epochal Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812, and a bust and uniform items of the latter, who is best remembered for commanding the expedition of 1853 - 1854 that opened Japan to the world and modernity.

The Naval Torpedo Station and the evolution of the torpedo in America is treated in an exhibit located in the west gallery of the first floor. The exhibit begins with the establishment of the Station on Goat Island, Newport, in 1869 and continues to the present with a look at the successor command, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. Feature items are the Fish, the first propeller-driven torpedo in America, 1871, the Howell, the first torpedo used on Navy ships in the 1890's, and the Mark 14, the principal U.S. submarine torpedo of World War II. The exhibit "From Newport Naval Training Station to Campus of the Navy" which is in the east gallery, first floor, tells the story of the beginnings of recruit training in Newport, of its circumstances on Coasters Harbor Island and adjacent areas during the two world wars and post-war years, and of the present-day successor command, the Naval Education and Training Center that consists of ten schools. Space is also devoted to a Naval Base command that evolved during World War II and incorporated large areas throughout the entire bay region and that continued through 1973.

The Naval War College The story of the founding in 1884 and the subsequent development of the Naval War College, the senior professional school in the Navy, on Coaster Harbor Island, Newport, RI, is exhibited in the center section of the second floor of the museum. The exhibit is largely pictorial and relates to leaders, facilities, distinguished graduates and war gaming, the school's unique study method. The exhibit includes a 12 minute video presentation on the history of the College, and a segment devoted to Alfred Thayer Mahan, its most distinguished educator and renowned historian of sea power.

Special Exhibits Destroyers, 100 Years The U.S. Navy's first destroyer, the USS BAINBRIDGE (DD 1) was launched in 1902. At that time its official designation was "Torpedo Boat Destroyer" for it had been designed and built as a response to the torpedo boat, another innovative naval warship that appeared in the late 19th century. The story of the American destroyer, and its evolution over 100 years to the very sophisticated Arleigh Burke class of the present-day, is told in a new commemorative exhibit that opened in the museum on March 15, 2002. The exhibit consists of ship models, prints and photographs, combat-related memorabilia, imprints and archival items. The models, of which there are 12, are the principal focus of the show, and these are arranged in a chronological story-line from the DD 1 of 1902 to the Arleigh Burke DD 51 of 1991, the first of the prevailing class by that name. Models of the USS CUSHING (TB 1), America's first ocean-going torpedo boat, which was launched in 1890 at the Herreshoff boat manufacturing company of Bristol, RI, and of a destroyer escort (SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DE 413), the smaller version of the destroyer, over 500 of which served with great distinction, especially in antisubmarine warfare, in Second World War, are also included. The stories of the destroyers and of their classes represented by the models are also told dramatically through historic photographs, prints and paintings in enlarged formats. The Second World War, in which the destroyer played such a vital role, accounts for largest segment of the exhibit, and this includes several stirring combat photographs and combat paintings. The role of destroyers in the post-war years and concepts of destroyers of the future are also effectively represented by enlarged illustrated materials. The exhibit, which was done in collaboration with the Surface Warfare Naval Officers School, is slated to continue until December 31, 2002.

Naval Museum Home-Page * US Navy Home-Page

Naval War College Museum 686 Cushing Road Newport, RI 02841 TEL:(401) 841-4052/1317 FAX:(401) 841-7689

Founders Hall (1820) A National Historic Landmark Click here to visit the Naval War College's Site.

Visit Rhode Island * Visit Newport * Visit New England

Close this window