USS Hornet (CV-12) (Aircraft Carrier) | |
USS Hornet docked in Alameda
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| Coordinates | 37°46′21.15″N 122°18′10.23″W / 37.7725417°N 122.3028417°W / 37.7725417; -122.3028417 |
|---|---|
| NRHP reference No. | 91002065 |
| CHL No. | 1029[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 4, 1991[2] |
| Designated NHL | December 4, 1991[3] |
The USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum is a museum ship, located on the southernmost pier of the former Naval Air Station AlamedainAlameda, California, US.
The museum is composed of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, exhibits from the NASA Apollo Moon exploration missions, and several retired aircraft from the Second World War and the transonic and early supersonic jet propulsion period. A number of compartments contain exhibits concerning contemporary carriers that are supported by related associations. The flight deck, hangar deck, and first deck below are open for self-guided tours. Docent-led tours are available into the ship's navigation and flight deck control areas of the island and down into one of the engineering spaces containing two of the four ship's propulsion turbines.
The exhibits are on and in the USS Hornet itself, a retired aircraft carrier that was launched during WW2 and served in many historic battles such as the Liberation of the Philippines and naval battles in the Pacific. After the war she was used to search for submarines and secure airspace, and had special role in space exploration, being used to recover returning space capsules in the space race. The ship was decommissioned 1970, and held in storage, but in the 1990s registered as a historic landmark and made into museum which opened in 1998.
Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation preserves and honors the legacy of USS Hornet, a national historic landmark,[4] and its role in naval aviation, the defense of the United States, the Apollo Program, and exploration of space.
The USS Hornet Museum officially opened to the public on October 17, 1998. Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin was the principal speaker. Attending dignitaries included Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Honorable Jerry Brown – Mayor-elect of Oakland; Honorable Ralph Appezzatto – Mayor of Alameda; General Richard Hearney – Vice President for Domestic Business Development, Boeing Company; and Rear Admiral Robert Chaplin – Superintendent, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.[5]
The USS Hornet Museum has many of aircraft on display including propeller aircraft, jet aircraft, and rotorcraft including several Naval helicopters. The aircraft are from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Museum guests can get up-close to the aircraft displayed on the flight deck and on the hangar deck. Aircraft are sometimes moved between decks utilizing the ship's #1 aircraft elevator. Exhibit highlights include:
USS Hornet was selected in 1969 to serve as the Prime Recovery Ship (PRS) for the Apollo 11 Moon mission. Hornet led the recovery of the first astronauts to land on the Moon following their splashdown back on Earth. Four months later, Hornet recovered the all-Navy crew of Apollo 12. The USS Hornet Museum has the largest Apollo Program exhibit on the West Coast of the United States. Artifacts on display include:
The Hornet Museum also hosts CarrierCon, a fan convention for anime, video game, comic and cosplay fans. In 2023, CarrierCon collaborated officially with Azur Lane, a popular Chinese mobile game with an English release that features anthropomorphic "shipgirls" including Hornet herself as Hornet II to distinguish her from the original Hornet.[8] Later that year, Hornet was chosen to host Azur Lane's live event celebrating the 5th anniversary of its English/worldwide release.[9]
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the Apollo Command Module – CM-011. It was used for the uncrewed mission AS-202 on August 26, 1966
