Naval Museum of Alberta
The Naval Museum of Alberta (NMA) traces its origins to HMCS Tecumseh in Calgary. HMCS Tecumseh was formed in 1923 as a Half Company of the newly formed Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR). In 1935, The Calgary Half Company was renamed the Calgary Division RCNVR, and in 1941 when all Naval Reserve Divisions in Canada were commissioned as ships, was renamed HMCS Tecumseh.
The Naval Museum of Alberta originally opened in 1988 at HMCS Tecumseh to tell the story of the Navy in Canada and the Naval Reserve in Alberta. The NMA and has grown into the largest naval museum in Canada.
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.
Naval Collections
The NMA has the distinction of having the most complete collection of major ship weapons systems in Canada. The Museum also has an extensive collection of archives, artefacts and photographs related to Canadian naval and maritime history which is held in the University of Calgary Library and Archives which is held on site in the same building.
The University of Calgary also retains the Naval Documentation Preservation and Research Centre. The Naval Museum’s supporting organization, the Naval Museum of Alberta Society, houses a Major Artefact Rehabilitation Centre located nearby at the NMAS Annex at the site of HMCS Tecumseh.
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 decommissioned in 1998. The NMA also houses 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.