Last updated: 5/23/2011
251 1st Street
Bremerton, WA 98337
Monday - Saturday
10 AM - 4 PM
Closed Tuesdays October-April
Closed on New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas
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Lindy Dosher
phone: 360-627-2270
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Visitors can explore the naval history of the region and experience life as a sailor through exhibits about the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier, special operations submarines, and much more. The museum is handicap accessible and provides visitors with a Family Discovery Room, Dry Dock Theater, museum store, and a research library. Regularly scheduled educational and family programming is available. Admission is FREE.
The Puget Sound Navy Museum collects, preserves, and interprets the naval heritage of the Pacific Northwest from 1840 to the present for the benefit of the U.S. Navy and the people of the United States.
The Puget Sound Navy Museum is one of twelve museums funded and administered by the U.S. Navy. With the Naval Undersea Museum (NUM) in Keyport, WA, it forms Navy Museum Northwest (NMNW). NMNW is a unit of the Naval History and Heritage Command with headquarters in Washington, D.C. PSNM staff wrote this interpretive plan specifically for the Puget Sound Navy Museum.
The museum began operation on December 3, 1954 in the Craven Center, a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard building located at the corner of Burwell Street and Park Avenue. Named the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Museum, it was established by the U.S. Navy. Shipyard employees provided staff for the museum.
In 1964, the Navy declared the Craven Center building as surplus. With the help of the Navy, the Kitsap County Historical Society, the City of Bremerton, and the Washington State Ferries, the museum found a new home in a portion of the Washington State Ferry Terminal’s lobby. The City of Bremerton accepted custody of the museum’s collection, and the Kitsap County Historical Society agreed to staff the museum. The museum reopened in 1967 as the Naval Shipyard Museum and operated there until 1986 when the Terminal was demolished.
In 1986, the City of Bremerton agreed to lease a 6000 square foot building near the Ferry Terminal at 130 Washington Avenue. During this time, the museum was referred to as the Bremerton Navy Memorial Museum as well as the Naval Museum of the Pacific. Volunteers staffed the museum while the City paid the rent and utilities. In 1998, the City decided it could no longer pay the museum’s rent, which led the museum’s non-profit foundation to take over the full operation of the museum until 2002, when the City decided to raze the Washington Avenue location in order to make room for a hotel and convention center. Negotiations between City officials, former museum foundation Board President Lyle Nelson, and U.S. Congressman Norm Dicks resulted in a decision to create a permanent home for the museum in Building 50. The museum moved from 130 Washington in 2002 to a rented space in the Amy Burnett Gallery at the northwest corner of Fourth and Pacific Street. It operated there until the summer of 2007 when the collection, offices, and staff moved to the newly renovated Building 50 at 251 First Street.
The Navy built Building 50 on the Shipyard in 1896. It served as the first Administrative Headquarters for Shipyard commandants. The building has been relocated three times: first when Dry Dock 2 was built in 1910, second in the 1930s to Farragut Avenue where it served as apprentice classrooms and administrative offices, and third in 2006 to its present location at 251 First Street, which is on land that the Shipyard donated to the City. In 2006, the Navy transferred ownership of Building 50 to the City. The building underwent a city-funded $6 million renovation but retained much of its core architectural values. The City then leased the interior of the building for us as a U.S. Navy Museum.
The museum officially reopened in Building 50 on August 25, 2007 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was renamed the Puget Sound Navy Museum and became an official U.S. Navy Museum in March of 2008. Beginning with approximately 600 objects, the museum’s collection now numbers more than 12,000. Building 50 provides the museum with 6,049 square feet of exhibition space and 4,170 square feet of collections storage. Today, visitors can explore the naval history of the region and experience life as a sailor through exhibits about the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the USS John C. Stennis, and much more. The museum is handicap accessible and provides visitors with a children’s area, museum store, restrooms, and a research library.
Artifacts represent the heritage of the US Navy in the Pacific Northwest from the 1840s to the present.
Research collections represent the history of the US Navy in the Pacific Northwest from the 1840s to the present.
Various free programs are available, check the website from program offerings or call the museum for more information.
Lecture Halls
Performance Areas
Department of Defense,
US Navy,
Naval History and Heritage Command
Access: General Public, Students, Scholars, Members
Appointment required: No
Monthly Volunteer Newsletter
Annual Report
Weekly postings on museum Facebook page
Gift Shop
Special Event Rental
Group Tours
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