The Military Museums

Naval Museum of Alberta

Early History

The Naval Museum of Alberta (NMA) traces its origins to HMCS Tecumseh in Calgary which was formed to serve the Naval Reserve establishment at the end of the Second World War. The NMA originally opened in 1988 at the "stone frigate" HMCS Tecumseh to accommodate the naval aircraft that survived the Tecumseh fire in 1981.

The museum has quickly grown into the largest Canadian naval museum in the country. In October 2008, the Naval Museum moved to its current location when it was re-commissioned in its new facilities as part of The Military Museums expansion.

Naval Collections

The NMA has the distinction of having the most complete collection of major ship weapons systems in Canada, as well as having an extensive collection of archives, artefacts and photographs related to Canadian naval and maritime history. The NMA is also home to the Naval Documentation Preservation and Research Centre, as well as the Major Artefact Rehabilitation Centre.

The NMA also hosts a replica of a Second World War wheelhouse, one of only three Banshee Naval jet fighters left in the world, and a working periscope from the Canadian Submarine Ojibwa that was decommisioned in 1998. In addition, the NMA recently unveiled an original German Enigma machine that was used to encrypt messages sent to U-boats at sea.

At the NMA, you'll learn about the ships that Canadian sailors have plied the seas in for over 100 years, and the sailors themselves who have worked to protect our sovereignty, our freedoms and the longest coastline in the world.

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