Talk:List of museum ships

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I just added Kon Tiki and Ra II. They aren't ships, of course. I also added Fram, which is a ship, but isn't in the water (they build a building around it). I think all three belong here. Fram is in its own museum. Kon Tiki and Ra II are in the Thor Heyerdahl museum.

If there were a page on seafaring museums, or some such, maybe Thor's boats could be moved. Also candidates for that page. Museo Maritim (Maritime Museum) in Barcelona, Sjofahrtsmuseet (Seafaring museum) in Oslo, Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Ortolan88 20:26 Mar 18, 2003 (UTC)

The theory is that this lists only actual ships that you can walk on or around, which is quite different (and smaller) than the list of museums with a ship's wheel and a couple plates from the mess. :-) Museum ships are also distinct in that they have little subcultures of people who do the dirty work of keeping them from falling apart (trains and planes have something similar). Kon Tiki and Ra II are borderline by this definition, but that's OK, it's not like the list is ruined by having a few extra items.

A list of maritime museums would be good to have too, though formidable to compile, going by some of the directories I've seen. Stan 21:11 Mar 18, 2003 (UTC)

Right. You can walk around Fram but not the other two. They're so fragile I can't imagine anybody walking on them when they were new, much less sailing the open sea on them. Ortolan88

I am new to Wikipedia and do not know if I should edit the [[HMS Rose]] entry on this list to change to her new designation ([[HMS Surprise]]) new rig (RN frigate of 1800's) and port (San Diego). The Rose had a pretty good reputation and few may have heard of the Surprise as a replica. Can some kind of redirect be used for a ship without an article? I am trying to rectify this. Thank you. --Displaced Raleighite 02:22, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Yes, redirects for multiple names and designations (think of randomly-changing USN hull numbers/types) are very useful, quite a few ships have them. As to what the article itself should be under, that's a bit of a judgement call - generally the longest period of service or most familiar is the right way to go. You can always try it one way and change later if it doesn't "feel" right. Stan 04:46, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

why are the PS Kingswear Castle - Chatham, paddle steamer and the MV Balmoral - Glasgow on this list? They're both both in active service for the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society / Waverley Excursions (see PS Waverley) = dave souza 21:06, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)

"Museum ship" doesn't mean permanently immobile - many on this list go on cruises. Operation by a "preservation society" is a strong hint that the service is not strictly commercial. Do the vessels have a regular parade of visitors that go on board to look around? Are there informational signs attached to every nautical bit? :-) Stan 23:04, 8 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This is tricky, as I've not been on these ships, but know that together with the PS Waverley they carry out a regular season of sailings every year: the Kingswear Castle in the Thames (I think), and the Balmoral was bought to fill in (at least for the Waverley) when cruises are wanted in two places at once. If they should be on the list, so should the Waverley, but it's run by the excursion company (I think a subsidiary of the preservation society), carries out regular sailings in season, has no explanatory signs on things and as far as I know doesn't invite visitors when tied up. You go on board (prebook or get your ticket at the purser's office) and sail on her. The organisation's a charity. It gets subsidy, but then so does Caledonian MacBrayne. Then there's the SS Sir Walter Scott - since 1900 it's continued to sail for the water company - and the PS Maid of the Loch which is tied up and open to the public, so it fits more of the definition in the museum ship article, but that's because it's a preservation work in progress towards getting back to regular sailings. If the definition is to be widened to include old ships kept in service, then the museum ship article needs modifying. I don't think of them as museum ships, but others might want to. Ta for keeping up the good work, . dave souza 23:22, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 List by countries 2 I didn't see the USS Slater listed 3 Lightships 4 Oppose Merge

[edit] List by countries

I think that these ships should be listed by countries to make them easier to find.

"Easier" depends on whether you know the name but not the country, or vice versa. What happens for a list of this length is that one ends up with a bunch of tiny sublists, and readers who don't find a name under the expected country end up searching all through all the lists. Also, when you mean "by country", is that original nationality, or current location? One compromise that people do sometimes is to make a list of museum ships by country alongside this one (perhaps renaming this one to list of museum ships by name). That means extra maintenance though, to ensure the lists are consistent - IMHO more trouble than it's worth for this particular list. Stan 21:16, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] I didn't see the USS Slater listed

What about the Destroyer Escort USS Slater in Albany, NY. Maybe, it is in there somewhere; but it's not in alphabetical order. Hokeman 18:04, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for note -- have now added USS Slater (DE-766) -- mervyn 19:25, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

Glad I could help, Mervyn. I'm going to visit the Slater on 1 May.Hokeman 01:26, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lightships

There are afew lightship in museums, but I don't know them all. I added the Portsmouth and Chesapeake. They are listed as LV-101 and LV-116 rather than name because a lightship's name would change with station. Since they were not listed I assume that it is because they were never added, If they belong in another catigorey all together (which I don't think they should) please move them. Oktober 2006

[edit] Oppose Merge

Oppose merge of Ships preserved in museums with List of museum ships. The first is an article, while this is a list (see Museum ship). In any case, Ships preserved in museums discusses precisely what is excluded from this list - see discussion at top of page Viv Hamilton 20:35, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

A suggestion is to use info from Ships preserved in museums to re-write the intro to the article Museum ship -- it is currently not inclusive, and skewed to the US concept of the floating Memorial ship. Museum ships can encompass a range of different types, whether floating, in dry dock, or as static displays in museums. Then the proposed merge would make sense. --mervyn 17:28, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Given significant rewrite of the article, the proposed merge could be an improvement. Viv Hamilton 08:51, 4 December 2006 (UTC)