×
![]()
❮
Coastal 
Family Friendly 
History & Heritage 
Museums Booking Chatham Historic Dockyard
- Step aboard three historic warships spanning Victorian, WWII and Cold War eras.
- Watch rope-making in a 19th-century Victorian ropery still in operation.
- Explore immersive galleries like “Command of the Oceans” and the RNLI lifeboat collection.
Prices from:
£28.50
A maritime museum in Kent, set within the 300-year-old core of the Royal Navy’s Chatham Dockyard, featuring warships, industrial galleries and workshops.
Times
Open daily from 10:00 to 17:00 from 1 April to 27 October. Winter hours (28 October to 17 November) are 10:00 to 16:00.
View all available times here
Attraction Duration
3-4 hours
Age Range
Fun for all ages
Attraction Overview
Chatham Historic Dockyard spans 80 acres of preserved naval heritage, tracing 400 years of shipbuilding, innovation, and naval power. Three historic warships, the Victorian sloop HMS Gannet, WWII-era destroyer HMS Cavalier and Cold War submarine HMS Ocelot are moored in the Great Basin. Industrial history comes alive in the working Victorian Ropery and the Steam, Steel and Submarines gallery, which charts technological change from sail through World Wars and beyond.Special exhibitions include the award-winning “Command of the Oceans” gallery and the RNLI lifeboat collection, the largest in the UK. The No. 1 Smithery gallery and the vast 3 Slip shed host interactive displays and naval artefacts.
Be sure to explore...
- HMS Gannet, HMS Cavalier and HMS Ocelot for a live-in naval experience.
- The Victorian Ropery and its ropewalk stretching nearly 350 metres, the longest in Europe.
- Steam, Steel and Submarines gallery showing shipbuilding progress up to the post-war era.
- RNLI lifeboat display featuring vessels from 1897 to modern inflatables.
- Command of the Oceans gallery, offering archaeology and interactive stories of naval heritage.