NEWPORT, R.I. –
Navy Day at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, hosted with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, will be held on Saturday, March 9, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the museum located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Admission to the museum on Navy Day is free for all valid Department of Defense identification card holders and veterans and their families.
Navy Day offers a full schedule of fun and educational opportunities for the public to experience the Navy’s role in environmental preservation, marine mammal protection and underwater research, as well as the museum’s extensive historical collection. Visitors can explore whale ecology, learn from NUWC scientists and marvel at massive whale skeletons.
Division Newport leadership and museum President and Chief Executive Officer Amanda McMullen will give opening remarks at 10:30 a.m. in the Jacobs Family Gallery.
The museum opens at 9 a.m. and events start at 9:30 a.m., with the showing of videos in the Cook Memorial Theater. The video presentations feature Monica DeAngelis, a marine mammal biologist in the Environmental Branch of Division Newport’s Corporate Operations Department, who will discuss the “The Science of Seal Tracking” and Dr. Christin Murphy, a branch head in Division Newport’s Sensors and Sonar Systems Department, who will discuss “Seal Whiskers.” The videos will play again at 2:30 p.m. and videos featuring Division Newport employees in the “Connecting the Dots” series will be broadcast on a rotating basis at noon.
From 10 to 10:30 a.m., “Skeletons of the Deep,” an overview of museum skeletons will be presented by Robert Rocha, the museum’s associate curator of science and research, in the Jacobs Family Gallery. Tours of the Lagoda, a half-scale model of a whaling bark, will be held 10 to 10:30 a.m. and again 12:30 to 1 p.m.
Technical lectures will be presented throughout the day in the Cook Memorial Theater. Michael P. Dyer, maritime curator at Mystic Seaport Museum, will present “All Hands, Exploring the Relationship Between the U.S. Navy and the Whaling Industry” at 11 a.m. Division Newport employees Daniel Duane, of the Sensors and Sonar Systems Department, will present “The Effect of the Global COVID-19 Shutdown on Underwater Soundscapes” at 12:45 p.m. and Kaelyn Gamel, of the Ranges, Engineering and Analysis Department, will present “Fish Out of Water: Kinetics of Amphibious Transition” at 1:45 p.m.
Children-specific events include access to an inflatable whale in the Harbor View Gallery, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. and a knot-tying activity from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Jacobs Family Gallery.
Information will be available about how the U.S. Navy contributes to the protection of marine mammals and the Navy’s role in the blue economy — the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihood and jobs and ocean ecosystem health. Staff also will be available to answer questions on NUWC’s contributions to two exhibits featured at the museum, “Whales Today” and “Seals and Society,” and to answer questions about careers in science, technology, math and engineering.
Parking in metered spots on the streets surrounding the museum is free on weekends. For more information on the museum, visit https://www.whalingmuseum.org/
NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.
Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport.