Royal Navy Museums

30/08/2026

⚓ The plans behind the largest amphibious invasion in history.

On 30 August 1944, German forces retreating across the River Seine marked the end of the Normandy campaign and a major turning point in the liberation of Western Europe.

Less than three months earlier, on 6 June, Operation Overlord had begun with D-Day.

At its heart was Operation Neptune, the vast naval operation that carried Allied forces across the English Channel and supported their landings on the Normandy coast. Thousands of ships and landing craft, alongside the sailors and crews who operated them, helped put more than 150,000 Allied troops ashore on D-Day. Coordinating an operation on this scale required extraordinary planning.

Today, Royal Navy Museums cares for an original set of the Naval Operation Orders for Operation Neptune. Hundreds of copies were produced for the forces involved, but crucially, each contained only the information needed for a particular operational area. If one fell into enemy hands, it could not reveal the entire invasion plan.

From movements and timings to the coordination of ships and landing craft, documents like these reveal the immense planning behind a day remembered for the courage of those who took part.

Operation Overlord did not end the war in Europe, but it opened the way for the Allied advance that would eventually lead to victory.

See the Operation Neptune orders on display at Royal Navy Museums: Portsmouth and discover the stories behind the people, ships and decisions that shaped D-Day.

https://orlo.uk/cJum4

28/08/2026

Got a question about your visit? We're all aboard and ready to help!

🔗Click the link below to view our online FAQs. Whether you need help planning your visit, information about opening times, directions, or anything else, we've got you covered.

📩 For further assistance, the best way to get in touch is via email at [email protected]

💬 Our team is also available through our social channels, live chat on our website, or by phone during the daytime, Monday to Saturday.

📣 Please note responses may take longer over the bank holiday weekend, and we will look to respond to queries as soon as possible.

⚓ We look forward to welcoming you aboard soon!

https://orlo.uk/5k4wM

27/08/2026

⚓ Bank Holiday weekends are made for discovering somewhere extraordinary.

Across Royal Navy Museums, hundreds of years of naval history are waiting to be explored.

Walk the decks of HMS Victory in Portsmouth. Step aboard HMS Trincomalee in Hartlepool. Discover the world beneath the waves at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. Get closer to the extraordinary story of naval aviation in Yeovilton. Or explore one of the last surviving First World War warships aboard HMS Caroline in Belfast.

Wherever you visit, discover the ships, objects and people behind the stories that connect Navy and Nation.

🧭 This Bank Holiday, where will you discover?

https://orlo.uk/85rso

26/08/2026

⚓ HMS Caroline

📍 Royal Navy Museums: HMS Caroline

https://www.royalnavymuseums.org.uk/?utm_id=social&utm_source=social&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Orlo

24/08/2026

🗓️ A remarkable final journey through the streets of Portsmouth.

Six years ago today, LCT 7074 made the final journey to her new home at The D-Day Story in Southsea.

It was the culmination of an ambitious project led in partnership by Royal Navy Museums and Portsmouth City Council, with vital support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and others, to save and restore the last surviving Landing Craft Tank from D-Day.

It was quite a sight. A vessel built to carry tanks and troops onto enemy beaches was travelling through the streets of Portsmouth more than 75 years later.

Today, LCT 7074 stands at The D-Day Story, helping tell the story of the people, vessels and extraordinary logistics behind the Normandy landings.

Watch LCT 7074 being moved along Southsea Common to The D-Day Story...

21/08/2026

✈️ One tiny aircraft. One enormous Zeppelin.

On 21 August 1917, Flight Lieutenant Bernard A. Smart took off from HMS Yarmouth in a Sopwith Pup on a mission unlike anything attempted before.

His aircraft had launched from a platform fitted above one of the cruiser's gun turrets. His target was the German naval Zeppelin L23, a vast airship that dwarfed the small biplane approaching it over the North Sea. Smart climbed above the Zeppelin before diving to attack, opening fire with incendiary ammunition. L23 caught fire and fell into the sea with the loss of almost all those aboard.

It was the first time an enemy airship had been destroyed by an aircraft launched from a ship, another remarkable step forward during the pioneering years of naval aviation. Smart couldn't simply return and land aboard HMS Yarmouth. Once his mission was complete, he had to ditch his Sopwith Pup alongside British ships and wait to be rescued from the sea.

Today, you can see a Sopwith Pup at Royal Navy Museums: Naval Aviation in Yeovilton and get a sense of just how small the aircraft was that took on one of the giants of the First World War.

Discover the stories that connect Navy and Nation through the people who lived them.

https://orlo.uk/ZGbdr

📷
Flight Lieutenant Bernard A. Smart
Sopwith Pup at Royal Navy Museums: Naval Aviation
L23 (LZ 66)

21/08/2026

🥃 A ration that became a naval tradition.

On 21 August 1740, Vice Admiral Edward Vernon ordered that sailors' daily rum ration should be mixed with water in an effort to improve discipline and reduce the effects of excessive drinking at sea.

Vernon was known as "Old Grog", a nickname inspired by the grogram cloak he regularly wore. Before long, the diluted rum became known simply as grog, a tradition that would remain part of Royal Navy life for more than two centuries.

Inspired by that maritime heritage, Royal Navy Museums has partnered with the Isle of Wight Distillery to create HMS Victory Rum.

Crafted from a blend of aged Demerara rums from Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica, it is inspired by the traditional rum tots once issued aboard Royal Navy ships. Finished with an oak stave from HMS Victory, the rum carries a unique connection to one of the world's most famous warships.

Whether you're raising a glass to history or searching for the perfect gift, it's a chance to savour a tradition that has been part of naval life for generations.

Available from Royal Navy Museums locations and online.

https://orlo.uk/5QmZY

📷 - RMM 1976_335c91: Petty Officer Bedford RN and Sgt Pragnell carry a rum barrel across the deck of the battleship HMS Royal Sovereign c. 1919

20/08/2026

📖 What can one sailor's journal reveal about a voyage to the other side of the world?

On 20 August 1852, William Dawson began recording life aboard HMS Trincomalee in a journal he called 'Doings of Ye Trincomalee'.

As a young Royal Navy officer, Dawson was embarking on a voyage that would take him thousands of miles from home. Trincomalee had been sent to the Pacific Station, sailing from England to the coast of what is now British Columbia.

But within the pages of Dawson's journal is much more than dates and destinations.

He recorded the rhythms of daily life aboard ship and encounters with Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. He wrote of canoes arriving alongside Trincomalee to trade, witnessed local ceremonies and recorded words from Chinook Jargon used to communicate between different communities.

His observations reflect the perspective of a 19th-century British naval officer, but today they provide a valuable first-hand record of encounters between Royal Navy personnel and Indigenous communities during a period of increasing British colonial activity in the region.

More than 170 years later, Dawson's handwritten journal survives in the Royal Navy Museums collection, allowing us to explore this voyage through the words of someone who was there.

Today, you can step aboard HMS Trincomalee at Royal Navy Museums: Hartlepool and discover the remarkable global story of one of the world's oldest warships still afloat.

Some journeys survive in ships. Others survive in the stories people leave behind.

Discover what William Dawson recorded during HMS Trincomalee's voyage to the Pacific in our blog.

https://orlo.uk/Kier6

19/08/2026

Royal Marines Experience opens 24 October 2026

Opening on Saturday 24 October 2026, the new Royal Marines Experience at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard will take visitors on an unforgettable journey through more than 360 years of Royal Marines history.

Take on Commando-inspired challenges, discover powerful stories of bravery and resilience, and experience cutting-edge technology that puts you in the boots of a Royal Marine.

From remarkable objects to hands-on activities and interactive experiences, every part of the journey has been designed to put you at the heart of the action.

Adventure. Challenge. Discover. There’s adrenaline for every generation within the Royal Marines story. Book now as part of your Portsmouth Historic Dockyard Ticket.

https://orlo.uk/RME_UTIn9

📍 Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
📅 Opens 24 October 2026

Tag someone who'd take on the challenge!

19/08/2026

⚓ Sunrise over HMS Trincomalee

📍 Royal Navy Museums: Hartlepool

https://orlo.uk/474Ib