I've purchased the following book to support the Hornet. It' is full of stories Docents have written about their military experiences. It's available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R7VQJMW
The USS Hornet Museum has many wonderful programs and exhibits. They offer a incredible educational experience and even offer the opportunity for adults and youth to experience "life as a sailor" and spend the night on board. The goal of each of the Museum’s educational program is to use our unique environment to teach science and history concepts in an interactive and fun manner and each program features a tour and hands-on activities.
In the STEM to Stern Program, high-school students will see how chemistry, physics, and mathematics apply to the operational functions of a World War II aircraft carrier. The historic surroundings of the USS Hornet Museum offer a one-of-a-kind learning environment for exploring these concepts by giving students perspective on modern technology by offering a comparison to the past.
For example, visitors can investigate how thermodynamics and electromagnetism allowed the USS Hornet to use seawater to power the ship while cruising the ocean. They can learn how waves are used to track objects and communicate on board as well as between ships and aircraft. They can also see how hydraulics and simple machines, wind, and the ship itself helped launch a 19,000-lb jet off the flight deck, as well as how pilots and sailors use vector mathematics to plot a course.
They also host public events throughout the year which are excellent including a 4th of July party and a incredible New Year Eve Big Band Dance. They even have evening ghost tours!
What is truly amazing our the docents. Most of them are Navy veterans and the knowledge and history learned during your visit is such a gem.
This is a rich and wonderful museum and a asset to the Bay Area.
I'm a history buff and a big fan of WWII museums. I've visited many and in my estimation there is nothing that compares with a visit to The USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum, one of the Bay Area's hidden treasures! The legacy of USS Hornet - CVS12 is impressive: The most decorated aircraft carrier in the history of the US Navy, she served faithfully between 1943-1970, ending her career with the recovery of the Apollo 11 and 12 crews. After decommissioning, USS Hornet was saved from the scrap yard by a loyal group of veterans and civic leaders, eventually coming to rest in Alameda, CA as a National and State Historic Landmark. The Museum connects the past with the present, integrating history and science to preserve the past, educate the present, and inspire the future.
Although the ship is now old and the exterior a bit rusty, she shines on the inside thanks to an incredible group of volunteers and talented staff. Dedicated Docents, many of whom proudly still wear their beloved Flight jackets, provide personal tours and share fascinating stories about some of the sailors and pilots who served aboard the Hornet. A talented group of retired engineers work around the clock on the Restoration Crew, refurbishing the inside from top to bottom and from bow to stern (6 decks above, 11 decks below, 872 feet). Retired pilots and air buffs man the Air Group and have meticulously restored numerous WWII planes, jets, and helicopters. Unique interactive exhibits have been created by a professional staff, including numerous artifacts from the Apollo exhibit and a flight simulator, which the kids all love. One of my personal favorites is the exhibit featuring the 442nd Infantry Regiment, displaying the fascinating story of the "Go For Broke" fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-generation American soldiers of Japanese ancestry (Nisei) who fought valiantly in WWII.
For over 15 years, the Museum has offered field trips, overnight live-aboards, and other educational experiences, serving over 73,000 students since 2012 (when STEM programming was launched). The STEM-to-Stern programs combine history, aesthetic and functional design, and STEM to give context to these classroom concepts. Guided by STEM-trained Docents, students explore several areas of the ship that illustrate a wide variety of STEM concepts, participate in exciting demonstrations, and engage in hands-on activities – all while immersed in history. Program formats include day field trips, overnight live-aboards, and soon, a virtual online classroom. In Ship Shape!, the Museum’s daytime STEM program and Night Ops!, the overnight live-aboard experience, students may visit the following stations and learn about the following concepts:
* Boiler and Engine Rooms (energy, thermodynamics, power generation)
* Catapult Room (kinetic/potential energy, hydraulics/pneumatics, mechanics)
* Flight Deck (kinetic/potential energy, aeronautics, optics)
* Bridge (waves, communication, navigation)
* Fo’c’sle (weather, engineering design (“hurricane bow”), simple machines)
One of the major international science and technology themes of 2019 will be the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first humans to land on the moon. The epic Apollo 11 mission, and the daring astronauts who carried it out, will be featured in movies, special TV programs, countless magazine and newspaper articles and will be a mega-trending topic on a wide variety of social media. NASA and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as the US Navy and other major national organizations will all be involved with celebrations. As the largest surviving artifact directly involved with this historic mission, the USS Hornet Museum will be in the national, if not international, spotlight.
Plans are in the works to commemorate the Hornet's recovery of the moon walkers, and their lunar rocks, with a special series of events starting in October 2018 and culminating in July 2019 called Splashdown 50. These include viewing the lunar eclipse from the Flight Deck; an educational evening with the "Women in Space" panel featuring accomplished female astronauts, pilots, and scientists; a "Space Concert" featuring popular movie scores and a laser light show on the Flight Deck; and an alumni reunion of former sailors who served on the Hornet; and much more. It promises to be an exciting time aboard the Hornet, so I encourage you to log on to the Hornet Museum website, save the dates, and book your reservations now for a memorable and enjoyable experience!
Review from Guidestar
Stintson1 certainly has or had an interesting perspective, but how relevant it is to reality or to the visitors' enjoyment of the museum is a little less than compelling. But let's get that out of the way. There are kernels of truth in what was written, but scratching the surface of that evaluation does a lot to discount most of the complaints. First, the CEO is no longer present and a new Executive Director has been hired. Education is managed by two individuals with multiple masters degrees and a LLD. The Office of Naval Research thought enough of the education department to offer a grant of $300,000 for the Hornet's STEM program. Private Events does well enough to have managed 6 evening events in May and June during which Hornet hosted some 10,000 visitors from a Chinese company, along with a myriad of smaller events. Cooperation among departments is quite good, with no known casualties of the infighting described, and a Director of Development has been hired to raise the funds necessary to manage what already is, according to Navy sources, the best restored ship among the various museum vessels. The flight deck is being remediated and two aircraft elevators have been restored to full 20 ton working capacity. Newly restored spaces are opened periodically, most recently the Officer's Galley. In August "Operation Deep Clean" cleaned, polished and painted the Hangar deck. So, not quite the dissent-ravaged derelict described.
As to the museum operation itself: visitors are offered tours of 14 levels and decks, from the depths of Number 2 Fireroom to Primary Flight Control five levels above the flight deck. The second deck, Hangar deck and flight deck are open to unescorted tours or optional audio tours 362 days of the year and include many restored spaces, museum rooms and aircraft. Docent-led tours are available 360 days of the year for exploring the heights and the depths of the ship on what visitors typically find to set the Hornet apart from other ships. New Years Eve is a grand celebration of the end and beginning, the 4th of July typically attracts more than 3000 visitors and Halloween's Monsters Bash was attended by some 1500 people this year. Even a cursory look at the reviews on sites like Yelp and Trip Advisor will likely lead to the conclusion that there is a lot to like about the Hornet, even if, like Stintson1, you hated the way it was managed and found that somehow relevant to the visitor experience.
Review from Guidestar
If you speak of an organization that is dysfunctional, unappreciative of its employees and highly mis-managed, then you must be talking about the Hornet Museum. The CEO has no leadership skills and encourages infighting amongst the different departments. Rumor mongering is a daily sport which has resulted in the mass exodus of the skilled individuals who were responsible for creating many of the museum's programs or actually kept the ship running; many were forced out leaving behind people in positions for which they are unqualified (i.e. Education) or are just nasty (private events director). Most salaried personnel have been named as 'Directors' yet have no staff to direct. Labor law violations abound, i.e. no overtime is paid to hourly workers yet O.T. is demanded by upper staff. Co-operation between departments is discouraged and penalized by the CEO. The current administration has let the museum fall into disrepair, ( which will cost millions to correct in the next few years) yet have not made a concerted effort to raise capital to correct deferred maintenance until recently; too little, too late. With a highly intrusive executive board, a CEO who cannot lead, heavily bureaucratic and having been on the staff, trust me, stay away from the USS Hornet Museum.