Featured Artifacts

Current status: On exhibit Location: Outdoors Sturgeon-class submarines were the workhorses of the Submarine Force during the Cold War. These fast attack submarines conducted surveillance and reconnaissance (intelligence gathering) missions, took part in battle and...

Current status: Not on displayView a digital 3D model of this artifact here Most diving suits are ambient pressure (“soft”) suits that protect their wearers from the cold and surrounding environment, but not from the pressure of the water. At extreme depths, an...

Current status: On exhibit Exhibit: "Behind the Faceplate" The Mark V diving rig was used by the U.S. Navy for deep sea and salvage diving from 1916 through the early 1980s. Designed for intensive diving operations and to provide maximum physical protection, the Mark...

Current status: Not on display The Unmanned Free-Swimming Submersible (UFSS) was one of the first autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). It was developed as a test vehicle in the late 1970s to demonstrate the potential of autonomous vehicles over long distances and to...

Current status: Not on display The near-term mine reconnaissance system (NMRS) was an interim program developed to bring organic mine warfare capability to the Submarine Force before a long-term system (LMRS) could be completed. NMRS consisted of two torpedo-shaped,...

Current status: On exhibit Exhibit: "Search, Spy, Rescue, Recover: Navy Vehicles Under the Sea" The mine neutralization vehicle (MNV) is a type of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used by Navy mine countermeasure (MCM) ships to locate and destroy underwater moored and...

Current status: Not on display Makakai was a two-man, free-swimming submersible that was developed by the Navy to serve as an oceanographic research vehicle as well as a submersible developmental test and demonstration platform for undersea hardware. It features...

Current status: Not on display The MK 13 torpedo was the primary air-dropped torpedo of World War II and the first torpedo designed specifically for aircraft use. It was employed extensively by aircraft and patrol torpedo (PT) boats during World War II for anti-ship...

Current status: On display Exhibit: "Mine Warfare" Frame torpedoes were one of the most common, successful types of mines used by the Confederacy during the Civil War. The frame torpedo at the Naval Undersea Museum, here on long-term loan from the Naval History and...

Current status: On display Exhibit: "Torpedo Technology" The MK 14 was the primary submarine-launched, anti-surface ship torpedo of World War II before the introduction of the electric MK 18. Initially considered problematic and unreliable, the MK 14 torpedo became...