Exhibits:
Battleship Cove presents and maintains a diverse number of exhibits to complement our ships, aircraft, and mission. We are always expanding and updating these displays to enhance our Educational outreach and to provide the visitor with a fun learning experience.
Some of our exhibit highlights include:
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National PT Boat Museum:
As home to the National PT Boat Museum, Battleship Cove displays the world's largest collection of PT boat artifacts and memorabilia.
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The nucleus of this collection are PT Boats 617 and 796, the world's only restored pair of PTs on public exhibition. These National Historic Landmarks are complemented by a vast assemblage of ephemera collected by WWII PT boaters in the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, artifacts that help us to appreciate not only the heritage of PT boaters but also the diverse cultures (Japanese, German, Italian, French, and British) of the regions from which these items were drawn.
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Admiral Arleigh Burke National Destroyer Museum:
USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. is home to the Admiral Arleigh Burke National Destroyer Museum and Memorial, which maintains a vast collection of cruise books, photos, and artifacts from the over 100 years of US Navy destroyer history.
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Probably the most famous destroyermen in naval history, four-star Admiral Arleigh Albert "31-Knot" Burke, USN, was a well known, respected and decorated naval officer. The namesake for the Navy's latest Aegis Arleigh Burke-Class destroyers (DDG-51), Burke received his nickname "31-Knot" for the speed at which his destroyer groups could operate in the Pacific theater during WWII.
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Within the Burke Museum are various murals, artifacts, interactive displays, and ship lists that portray the proud heritage of destroyermen and the United States Navy. The museum is currently undergoing a major renovation and is working with many ship and veteran organizations to preserve and present artifacts, pictures, and stories both physically and digitally.
Women Protecting US:
They are mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and friends: While formal military status for US women began in May of 1942, women have always borne the burden of military conflict. Often unrecognized, their contributions paved the way for the legions of women who serve today as equals to men in our armed forces.
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Now, their stories are being discovered and are retold at Battleship Cove. As your official memorial to 9/11, World War II and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars, Battleship Cove is dedicated to acknowledging the contributions of women veterans.
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Women Protecting US represents Southern New England’s first in-depth documentation of women’s military contributions to America. This provocative, permanent exhibition will chronicle how women in the military perform valuable duties, and how women on the home front preserve the fabric of our nation while soldiers and sailors fight overseas.
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This exhibit established Battleship Cove as an educational resource in the field of women’s military history.
YAGR:
The embers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had barely cooled when the Soviets challenged U.S. military superiority by detonating their own atomic device on August 29, 1949. As the threat of long-range Badger bombers loomed over the consciousness of the American public, top armed forces strategists agreed that early detection was the key to national survival.
Radar picket ships, designated YAGR/AGRs, were part of an integrated air defense early warning system to warn the Continental United States of Soviet Bloc air attacks. Extending across Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, and the North Atlantic, this system was headquartered in Colorado Springs in a secret bunker in Cheyenne Mountain.
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Explore this interesting exhibit to learn about the ship's and sailors that provided "Protection by Detection" during the Cold War
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