Just hours away from reinforcing Ft. Sumter and hours away from saving Gosport Navy Yard, USS Pawnee eventually became a valuable blockader. This steam screw gunboat was involved in several major operations with the Atlantic Blockading Squadron, North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and South Atlantic Blockading Squadron until the war’s end.

CSS Nashville played an important role in the Confederate search for European recognition.

USS Cumberland, flagship of the US Navy’s Home Squadron, was dispatched to Gosport Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, upon the sloop’s return from a brief cruise to Veracruz, Mexico.

Learn how recent research has revealed a connection between the port of Liverpool’s Bidston Hill signal station and Norfolk, Virginia in the 18th century.

Catesby ap Roger Jones was one of the Civil War’s most distinguished and respected ordnance officers. He joined the US Navy in 1836 and served aboard USS Merrimack during its first cruise, joined the Confederate Navy when Virginia left the Union, and commanded CSS Virginia during that ironclad’s fight with USS Monitor. After serving as Virginia’s executive officer through the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff, he was promoted to commander and would eventually be placed in command of the Selma Guns Works, producing much-needed Brooke rifles and shell guns for the Confederate Navy.

CSS Atlanta was an ironclad transformation effort which used the iron-hull and Scottish-built engines of SS Fingal to fashion one of the Confederacy’s most powerful warships. The ironclad; however, had a deep draft which limited its operational area below Savannah

The expansionist ideals of Manifest Destiny pushed the United States into conflict with Mexico, with disputes over Texas and the Rio Grande sparking the Mexican-American War. During this period, young naval officer John L. Worden sought active duty, earning promotion and serving aboard USS Southampton, where he played a key role in supplying and supporting American operations along the Pacific coast and in Baja California.

Learn how one curator learned the benefits and drawbacks of using AI to answer historical questions and explore art.

Learn the amazing story of the British Royal Navy’s fortification and occupation of Diamond Rock, a small island off the coast of Martinique, during the Napoleonic War.