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| Established | 1994 |
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| Location | One Waterside Drive Norfolk, Virginia United States |
| Type | Maritime |
| Website | Nauticus |
Nauticus is a maritime-themed science center and museum located on the downtown waterfront in Norfolk, Virginia, also known as the National Maritime Center.
Nauticus was incorporated under the National Maritime Center Authority in February 1988. The following month, Rear Admiral Jackson Knowles Parker, retired commander of Norfolk Naval Base, became the founding executive director.
Construction began at the former site of Norfolk's Banana Pier on the downtown Norfolk waterfront in February 1992, and Nauticus opened to the public in June 1994. Other visitor attractions nearby include the Virginia Zoo, Norfolk Scope, and Harbor Park, home to the Norfolk Tides.
The City of Norfolk opened the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center located at Nauticus on April 7, 2007.
The 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2), passenger-friendly facility features views of the Elizabeth River; an enclosed, elevated passenger gangway; a retractable bridge leading into a 16-slip marina; a terrazzo floor tile in the entrance; a separate lounge and check-in area for cruise line VIP passengers; a security-focused Customs and Border Protection area and an embarkation station. Its first passenger ship, RCI's Empress of the Seas, arrived on April 28, 2007.
The Half Moone also serves as an event venue with approximately 23,000 square feet (2,100 m2) of event spaces, each of which include interpretation and exhibits. Among the areas available for special event rental are the Bermuda Room, which displays artifacts and objects that tell the historic connections between Virginia and Bermuda; the Half Moone Vista, which includes some facts about the original fort; and the Lido and Promenade Decks, which address functions of those traditional decks on board cruise ships.
The name—Half Moone—is taken from the name of the fort that was built on the same site in 1673 in the form of a "half moone." The fort was built to protect Norfolk's burgeoning maritime industry. [1]
Following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in April 2024, Carnival Legend was rerouted to Norfolk, docking at Half Moone.
One of the largest battleships ever built arrived at Nauticus on the downtown Norfolk waterfront on December 7, 2000. That date was significant because it marked the 57th anniversary of USS Wisconsin's launching in 1943 – two years to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
USS Wisconsin opened for main deck tours on April 16, 2001. That date marked the 57th anniversary of the ship's commissioning in 1944.
Wisconsin, one of four Iowa-class battleships constructed by the United States Navy, was built from 1941 to 1943 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commissioned in 1944. She played a major role in World War II, earning five battle stars for service against Japanese forces. She served during the Korean War, and led the Navy’s surface attack on Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, firing not only her first but also the campaign's first Tomahawk missile. The ship was decommissioned at Philadelphia and retired to the Naval Inactive Reserve Fleet in Portsmouth, Virginia, in October 1996.
On April 16, 2010, exactly 66 years from the day she was commissioned at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, the United States Navy ceremoniously transferred ownership of the vessel to the city of Norfolk, Virginia. Vice Admiral David Architzel joined Mayor Paul Fraim, other city and military leaders, and former crew members on deck to conduct the ceremony. Architzel presented the long glass to Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim signifying that the Mayor now has the watch.
By the end of November 2009, more than 2,495,296 visitors have walked the teak decks of Wisconsin. These visitors have come from all fifty U.S. states and from many other nations to experience the battleship. [2]
Sail Nauticus is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization created by the Nauticus Foundation in 2013. Sail Nauticus is a community sailing center, with both adult and youth programs. Its cornerstone program is the Sail Nauticus Academy, an after-school program in partnership with Norfolk Public Schools that teaches middle school students sailing and maritime sciences from a STEM perspective.
Nauticus offers the Victory Rover Naval Base Cruises, a small fleet of boats taking people around the water to see Naval Station Norfolk and the Port of Virginia. They also offer whale watching, dolphin watching, sailing cruises, and a bus tour of the naval base. [3] [4]
The museum features hands-on exhibits, interactive theaters, aquaria, digital high-definition films and an extensive variety of educational programs. Nauticus has a high-definition large screen theater, named The Broke Theater, and shows several nautically-related films on a rotating basis.
On the third floor, Nauticus opened a new exhibit in May 2023 called Norfolk in Time. It is designed to "weaving stories of history, culture, science, technology and industry to showcase Norfolk’s unique resiliency in the face of continual challenge and change." [5] Also on the third floor, Nauticus has an exhibit that opened in June 2023 called Aquaticus, which is aimed at younger visitors. Aquaticus includes a large play place with a slide. The Nautical Neighborhood Aquarium is also located on the third floor.
The rest of the third floor at Nauticus will also be redesigned as part of Nauticus' transformation capital campaign, Reimagine Nauticus.
The second floor of Nauticus houses the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and the entrance to the battleship Wisconsin.
Norfolk is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Norfolk had a population of 238,005, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Beach and Chesapeake, and the 96th-most populous city in the nation. Norfolk holds a strategic position as the historical, urban, financial, and cultural center of the Hampton Roads region, which has more than 1.8 million inhabitants and is the 37th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S., with ten cities.
USS North Dakota (BB-29) was a dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy, the second member of the Delaware class, her only sister ship being Delaware. North Dakota was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in December 1907, was launched in November 1908, and commissioned into the US Navy in April 1910. She was armed with a main battery of ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns and was capable of a top speed of 21 kn. North Dakota was the first vessel of the US Navy to be named after the 39th state.
Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It also gave its name to the surrounding metropolitan region located in the southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina portions of the Tidewater Region.
USS Wisconsin (BB-9), an Illinois-class pre-dreadnought battleship, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 30th state. She was the third and final member of her class to be built. Her keel was laid down in February 1897 at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, and she was launched in November 1898. The completed ship was commissioned into the fleet in February 1901. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 13-inch (330 mm) guns and she had a top speed of 16 knots.
The Jamestown Exposition, also known as the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition of 1907, was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. Commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, it was held from April 26 to December 1, 1907, at Sewell's Point on Hampton Roads, in Norfolk, Virginia. It celebrated the first permanent English settlement in the present United States. In 1975, the 20 remaining exposition buildings were included on the National Register of Historic Places as a national historic district.
USS Wisconsin (BB-64) is an Iowa-class battleship built for the United States Navy (USN) in the 1940s and is currently a museum ship. Completed in 1944, the ship was assigned to the Pacific Theater during World War II, where she participated in the Philippines campaign and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The battleship shelled the Japanese home islands shortly before the end of the war in September 1945. During the Korean War, Wisconsin shelled North Korean targets in support of United Nations and South Korean ground operations, after which she was decommissioned. She was reactivated in 1986; after a modernization program, she participated in Operation Desert Storm in January – February 1991.
USS Nitze (DDG-94) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. She is named for Paul Nitze, who served as Secretary of the Navy under president Lyndon B. Johnson and as chief arms control adviser in the administration of president Ronald Reagan.
The Waterside, is a festival marketplace on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, opened June 1, 1983. While the Waterside Annex was demolished May 16, 2016, the main portion was renovated and reopened as Waterside District in May 2017.
Erie Maritime Museum is a maritime museum located on Presque Isle Bay which rests on the waterfront in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania. It is managed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). When it opened its doors on May 21, 1998, it became the first new Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission-affiliated museum in twenty years. Alongside its extensive indoor exhibits, it serves as the homeport for the US Brig Niagara, a modern recreation of the 1813-US Brig Niagara which served as Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's relief flagship during the Battle of Lake Erie. While the museum focuses on the War of 1812 in the "frontier", it is designed to celebrate Erie's rich maritime heritage.
The National Museum of the United States Navy, or U.S. Navy Museum for short, is the flagship museum of the United States Navy and is located in the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., United States.
The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is one of ten Navy museums that are operated by the Naval History & Heritage Command. It celebrates the long history of the U.S. Navy in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and is co-located with Nauticus in downtown Norfolk, Virginia.
The history of Norfolk, Virginia as a modern settlement begins in 1636. The city was named after the English county of Norfolk and was formally incorporated in 1736. The city was burned by orders of the outgoing Virginia governor Lord Dunmore in 1776 during the second year of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), although it was soon rebuilt.
Downtown Norfolk serves as the traditional center of commerce, government, and culture in the Hampton Roads region. Norfolk, Virginia's downtown waterfront shipping and port activities historically played host to numerous and often noxious port and shipping-related uses. With the advent of containerized shipping in the mid-19th century, the shipping uses located on Norfolk's downtown waterfront became obsolete as larger and more modern port facilities opened elsewhere in the region. The vacant piers and cargo warehouses eventually became a blight on downtown and Norfolk's fortunes as a whole. But in the second half of the century, Norfolk had a vibrant retail community in its suburbs; companies like Smith & Welton, High's, Colonial Stores, Goldman's Shoes, Lerner Shops, Hofheimer's, Giant Open Air, Dollar Tree and K & K Toys were regional leaders in their respective fields. Norfolk was also the birthplace of Econo-Travel, now Econo Lodge, one of the nation's first discount motel chains.
USS Martin H. Ray (DE-338) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
Since Norfolk serves as the commercial and cultural center for the geographical region of Hampton Roads, it can be difficult to separate the economic characteristics of Norfolk, from that of the region as a whole. The waterways which almost completely surround the Hampton Roads region also play an important part in the local economy. As a strategic location at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, its protected deep water channels serve as major arteries for the import and export of goods from across the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-West, and international destinations, as well as being the location of the world's largest naval base.
Located in the southeastern corner of the state, Norfolk is economically and culturally important to Virginia. A variety of transportation modes have developed around the city's importance and somewhat unusual geography.
Town Point Park is a 7-acre (2.8 ha) waterfront city park on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. The park hosts major outdoor concerts, award-winning festivals and special events each year to include Norfolk Harborfest, Bayou Boogaloo, and 4 July Celebrations. Norfolk Festevents programs Town Point Park on behalf of the City of Norfolk. Located in the park are The Homecoming and the Armed Forces Memorial.
Virginia is a wooden schooner that is a modern replica of an early twentieth century pilot vessel of the same name. She conducts educational programs and passenger trips along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and Canada, and in the Caribbean.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Norfolk, Virginia, United States.
MV Spirit of Norfolk was an American passenger ship which operated as a tour boat out of Norfolk, Virginia, until destroyed by fire in June 2022.
