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But the first thing you see as you approach is the dark, brooding mass of HMS Alliance, a Cold War submarine that is now the museum’s star exhibit.
The museum’s location alongside Portsmouth Harbour is no accident. The Royal Navy’s very first submarines were stationed in the harbour from 1902 and for many years there was a submarine base there. One of those first submarines, Holland 1, is on display in the museum, and it has a fascinating story.
Holland 1 was one of five submarines that were ordered by the Admiralty to be built at the Vickers Maxim shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. They were designed by the Irish-American John Philip Holland, and each cost £35,000.
On its final voyage, Holland 1 sank in the sea off Plymouth in 1913 while being towed to a breaker’s yard. The wreck was found in 1981 and recovered. After 69 years of decay on the seabed the vessel was seriously corroded, so a remarkable conservation project was launched.
The submarine was placed in a glass-fibre tank filled with 800,000 litres of sodium carbonate and left there to soak for four years. This removed the chloride ions that had been causing corrosion, and when the tank was drained the vessel was able to be displayed in an environmentally controlled gallery. There, a dehumidification system ensures that the submarine is kept dry.
Visitors can duck down to go inside Holland 1 and imagine what it must have been like to be one of the crew of eight in this primitive vessel. A plaque records the fact that the submarine won an IMechE Engineering Heritage Award.
At 15.5m long, the Second World War submarine HMS X24 is slightly shorter than Holland 1 but is much more sophisticated. X24 was one of a fleet of midget submarines that were designed to penetrate harbours where full-size subs couldn’t go. They carried delayed-action explosives that could be dropped below target vessels. In the museum, X24 is cut into two so you can walk through and peer inside.
Galleries in the museum explain the science and history of submarine warfare. But the highlight of a visit is a guided tour through HMS Alliance (pictured). This diesel-electric submarine was designed for action in the Pacific during the Second World War but hostilities were over by the time it entered service in 1947. Ten years later it was modernised, made faster, quieter and more streamlined, and fitted with a sonar dome, for the task of hunting enemy submarines during the Cold War.
You enter HMS Alliance at the fore-end next to the four forward torpedo tubes. The guide explains how a rail mechanism was used to load torpedoes into the tubes. When the vessel was not in action, there were nine bunks for crew members to sleep in here, right alongside the torpedoes. Further bunks are on the mess decks and in the corridor, bringing home how congested it must have been when all 65 of the crew were aboard. The tour continues through the control room and engine room to the aft end.
A visit to this museum shows vividly the hardships that submariners suffer and the bravery they must display. More than 5,300 submariners have given their lives while serving in the Royal Navy, and HMS Alliance is preserved as a memorial to them.
The submarine museum is part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and you can buy a joint ticket to visit it along with HMS Victory and HMS Warrior at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
For further details about visiting, see: www.nmrn.org.uk