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Why the National Museum of the Surface Navy at Battleship IOWA Is One of Los Angeles' Most Unique Museums

The story of America's Surface Navy, told aboard one of its most iconic ships.

Visitors often come aboard expecting to see a battleship. They leave understanding the sailors who made it work.

Located aboard Battleship IOWA on the Los Angeles Waterfront, the National Museum of the Surface Navy shares the history and human experience of America's Surface Navy, the ships and sailors who have protected freedom of the seas throughout our nation's history.

Its signature visitor experience, Life of a Sailor, invites every guest to see the Navy through the eyes of those who serve.

What Is the Surface Navy?

The Surface Navy includes Navy ships operating on the world's oceans, along with the sailors who design, build, maintain, support, and serve aboard them.

These ships have defended the nation, protected maritime trade, responded to disasters, supported humanitarian missions, carried presidents, and operated with American allies around the world.

People carry out their missions with hundreds of different jobs. Engineers generate power. Navigators guide the ship. Communications teams connect the crew. Cooks feed thousands of sailors. Medical personnel care for them. Weapons specialists, technicians, deck crews, supply teams, and countless others contribute to the mission.

The National Museum of the Surface Navy brings these interconnected stories together.

Why Battleship IOWA?

Battleship IOWA is not simply the museum's location. It is one of its most powerful artifacts.

Commissioned in 1943, USS Iowa served during World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Known as the Battleship of Presidents, the ship carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic during World War II and later welcomed other presidents, military leaders, and dignitaries.

But the ship's story is about far more than famous visitors and major battles. It is also the story of the thousands of sailors who lived, worked, learned, struggled, laughed, and formed lifelong bonds aboard her.

Every passageway, compartment, ladder, and deck helps visitors understand their experience.

A futuristic, neon-lit room with blue and purple lights, metallic pipes, railings, and labeled panels, resembling a sci-fi spaceship interior aboard The Broadside. A workstation emits an orange glow in the background.

More Than a Collection of Ships and Artifacts

The National Museum of the Surface Navy was created to tell a broader story than the history of one battleship.

Battleship IOWA represents generations of Surface Navy ships that came before and after her. The technology has changed, but many of the fundamentals of shipboard life remain: seamanship, responsibility, technical skill, trust, teamwork, and service to a mission larger than oneself.

The museum connects historic ships with today's Navy and introduces the people, industries, communities, and families that support the fleet.

Experience Life of a Sailor

Life of a Sailor moves the visitor experience beyond walking the decks of a historic ship.

Guests receive a sailor card with orders to fulfill as they explore. They hone sailor skills, discover the many jobs required to operate a ship, follow the footsteps of a real sailor, and learn how individuals become part of a crew.

Visitors encounter stories of courage and sacrifice, but also friendship, humor, routine, opportunity, and belonging.

The experience combines authentic shipboard spaces, personal stories, artifacts, art, technology, and interactive elements to answer a fundamental question: What does it mean to be a sailor?

Connecting the Navy to Everyday Life

The Surface Navy story reaches well beyond sailors and ships.

It includes shipbuilders, engineers, skilled tradespeople, scientists, logisticians, port workers, educators, families, veterans, and communities across the country.

By exploring these connections, visitors discover career opportunities and see how subjects such as science, engineering, technology, leadership, and public service have real applications.

The museum also provides a place where veterans can reconnect, families can share stories, students can discover new possibilities, and visitors can better understand the people behind the Navy.

A National Museum With a Community Mission

The National Museum of the Surface Navy is operated by Pacific Battleship Center, an award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The organization preserves Battleship IOWA while providing educational, veterans, workforce development, community, and emergency response programs. It also produces LA Fleet Week and is developing the Freedom of the Seas waterfront campus.

Admissions, memberships, donations, grants, volunteers, and community partnerships make this work possible.

Come Aboard

The National Museum of the Surface Navy offers something no conventional museum building can reproduce: the opportunity to discover the Surface Navy from inside one of its most iconic ships.

Explore Battleship IOWA. Follow the journey of a sailor. Discover the skills, relationships, and sense of purpose that turn individuals into a crew.

Plan your visit and experience Life of a Sailor.

TICKETS

Experience the Life of a Sailor.

A smiling family of four poses on a battleship deck, capturing the spirit of sailor life. Three give a thumbs-up. An emblem at the bottom left says Self-Guided with map and play icons. The battleship and a partly cloudy sky are in the background.

Life of a Sailor

Our general admission experience shows how sailors live, work, and serve.

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A white bathtub with bubbles holds a toy ship, rubber duck, and a book. Towels hang on metal bars by the tub. Blue tile is visible on the floor. An illustrated Guided badge appears in the lower left corner, hinting at an imaginative President’s Tour through bathtime adventures.

President’s Tour

It’s November 1943, and Battleship IOWA is on a covert mission. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his entire staff are aboard, headed for top-secret meetings with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

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A museum guide offers an engaging overview to visitors near a large shell and diagrams on a wall, enhancing their experience. The blue guided tour icon is visible in the foreground.

Overview Experience

The overview experience is a 90-minute crew-led tour that brings the ship’s legacy to life through the stories of those who served, and those who preserve her today.

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A tour guide in a blue cap speaks to visitors, holding a clear folder with papers. A wall with diagrams and text is behind him. A Guided tour icon appears in the foreground.

Gun Tour Experience

This exclusive, behind-the-scenes journey puts you inside the systems that made Battleship IOWA one of the most powerful warships ever built.

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A tour guide points to a map on a wall while three visitors listen inside an industrial-looking room with exposed pipes, capturing the essence of an immersive Engineering Tour Experience. A blue Guided tour icon appears in the foreground.

Engineering Tour Experience

The Engineering Tour takes you below into the hidden heart of Battleship IOWA, where eight boilers and four steam turbines once generated 212,000 shaft horsepower, enough to power 650 Ford F-150 trucks, and drove IOWA to a blistering 35 knots, the fastest of any battleship ever built.

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A battleship deck painted with a large American flag and cannons aimed forward under a cloudy sky, setting the stage for a thrilling Fleet Adventure. An adventure game-inspired Guided tour icon appears in the lower left corner.

Escape the Fleet Adventure

In 2011, a small team raced against time to pull Battleship IOWA out of the Navy’s reserve “ghost fleet” — or watch her be scrapped forever. Now it’s your turn to live that mission.

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Included with Admission

A smiling family of four poses on a battleship deck, capturing the spirit of sailor life. Three give a thumbs-up. An emblem at the bottom left says Self-Guided with map and play icons. The battleship and a partly cloudy sky are in the background.

Life of a Sailor

Our general admission experience shows how sailors live, work, and serve.

A boy in glasses stands in front of an illuminated wall display of ships at a museum exhibit commemorating America 250. Signs, ropes, and informational posters are visible, with a woman in the background.

Great Ships

Explore the ships of America’s Surface Navy.

A man and woman observe a large, detailed cutaway model of an aircraft carrier—an impressive symbol of Surface Navy strength—displayed in a modern, spacious exhibit room with panoramic lighting and a blue sky background.

Ship Cutaway

See inside a Navy ship from bow to stern.

Three girls, including Vicky, look at a display on a ship wall featuring a photo of a dog in a vest labeled with a red number 1. One girl in front has a large red bow in her blonde hair.

Vicky’s Scavenger Hunt

Find Vicky throughout your shipboard adventure.

A futuristic, neon-lit room with blue and purple lights, metallic pipes, railings, and labeled panels, resembling a sci-fi spaceship interior aboard The Broadside. A workstation emits an orange glow in the background.

Living Blueprint

Immerse yourself in a blueprint of a Navy ship.

Immerse yourself in this interactive Navy museum exhibit featuring blue-lit displays, touch screens, and educational panels about ocean stewardship. The space offers industrial ceilings and a central digital kiosk labeled Navy Look for a truly engaging Experience.

Stewards of the Sea

Explore how the Navy protects the seas.

A room with navy-themed displays; a mannequin dressed as a sailor stands near large informational posters and a digital screen showing a sailors image. The lighting is dim with blue accents.

What’s My Rate?

Find the Navy career that fits you.

Exhibit with dim blue lighting, crates, rope barriers, life-size cutouts of people in uniforms, and a background resembling a ships interior and a library area.

Every Sailor has a Story

Meet the people who serve.

A large battleship with three massive gun turrets and a blue helicopter displayed on its deck at night, with visitors walking nearby and bright lights illuminating the scene.

HUP-2 Retriever Helicopter

Korean War-Era HUP-2 Retriever Helicopter.

Dimly lit museum exhibit with large panels displaying historic photos and illustrations of battleships, Navy personnel, and World War II scenes, surrounded by pipes and industrial decor.

Sticks Art Gallery

Discover IOWA’s story through art.

Exhibit Description: Museum exhibit featuring panels on the USS Mississippi, the first Iowa battleship, and naval history. A large artillery shell stands in the foreground, with photos, artifacts, and an American flag displayed throughout the exhibit.

Gunnery Incidents

A dive into Navy gunnery incidents over the years.

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Smiling man and child stand on a ship deck near large equipment. Text reads Kids Board Free Launching Labor Day Weekend. Promo details mention free admission for children with a paid adult.

Limited time only!

Kids Board Free

In the all-new Life of a Sailor experience, kids become sailor recruits, building their skills, following the story of a famous sailor, and joining Vicky the Dog on a scavenger hunt through Battleship IOWA.

Kids board free with a paid adult.

Learn About the Experience