Museum of the Black Sea Fleet is one of the oldest naval museums in the country. It was opened on September 14, 1869 on the initiative of the participants of the defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855 in five rooms of the house, which belonged to one of the leaders of the defense, Adjutant General E. I. Totleben. Originally called the Museum of the Sevastopol Defense.
In 1895 a special building designed by the academician of architecture A. M. Kochetov was built for the now Military History Museum of the Black Sea Fleet by the decision of the Navy Department. The building is made in the classical style, its architecture is characterized by opulence and abundance of decoration. The exposition of the museum is also located in the former church of St. Michael, located next door (monument of architecture of the XIX century).
During the Great Patriotic War the main museum collections were evacuated to the Caucasus, then to Ulyanovsk. The museum building was damaged, the remaining museum relics were looted by fascists.
On August 15, 1948 the museum was reopened for visitors. Now in its funds there are more than 28 thousand items of museum value, revealing more than 200-year history of the Black Sea Fleet.
The exposition tells about the struggle of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples for access to the Black and Azov Seas, the founding of Sevastopol and the creation of the Black Sea Fleet, the Russian-Turkish wars from 1787 to 1829, the role of sailors in the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War of 1853-1856.
Unique exhibits are presented in the halls dedicated to the first heroic defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855: documents, personal belongings, weapons of the leaders of the defense of the city — Admiral P. S. Nakhimov, Vice-Admiral V. A. Kornilov, Rear Admiral V. I. Istomin; personal belongings of Dahimov, Vice-Admiral V. I. Istomin; personal belongings of Dasha Sevastopol (Daria Lavrentievna Mikhailova), portraits of soldiers-heroes, medical instruments of the «first surgeon of Russia» N. I. Pirogov, etc.; paintings, lithographs, rare documents, etc.; paintings, lithographs, rare documents, etc.. Battle banners, trophy relics, memorial items — evidence of valor and selflessness of Russian soldiers and sailors. The museum exhibits collections of armament, samples of uniforms of the Crimean War period.
The following halls tell about the Black Sea Fleet during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, about Sevastopol on the eve of the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907.
Here you can see models of the battleship «Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky» and cruiser «Ochakov», personal belongings of the Bolshevik M.I. Vasiliev-Yuzhin, sent by Lenin from Switzerland to Odessa to lead the uprising, awards of Potemkin sailors, authentic letters of P.P. Schmidt and others.
Exhibits will tell about the role of Black Sea sailors in the struggle for workers’ power during the Civil War in the south of the country. The first decrees of workers’ power, documents, personal belongings and awards of sailors, sets of exhibits about the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet ships on June 18-19, 1918 in Novorossiysk, about the uprisings on the Bulgarian cruiser «Hope» in December 1918 and on the French ships near Sevastopol in April 1919, about the final establishment of Soviet power here.
Two halls of the museum are dedicated to the Black Sea Fleet’s combat actions during the Great Patriotic War. Numerous relics of the 250-day heroic defense of Sevastopol. Among them are weapons, awards, photographs and personal belongings of the commander of the Sevastopol defense area and the Black Sea Fleet Admiral F. S. Oktyabrsky, commander of the Maritime Army General I. E. Petrov, a member of the Military Council of the fleet N. M. Kulakov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet. M. Kulakov, commander of the Fleet Air Force Major General of Aviation NA Ostryakov, Heroes of the Soviet Union K. Denisov, Y. Ivanov, N. Filchenkov, I. Krasnoselsky, I. Golubets, I. Teslenko, N. Adamia, L. Pavlichenko …
The exhibits show the mass heroism shown by Soviet soldiers during the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation and the Nikolaev landing.
A significant place in the exposition is occupied by the theme of liberation of Sevastopol in May 1944: documents, personal belongings, weapons of Heroes of the Soviet Union A. Chakryan, F. Matveev, I. Shengur, B. Alekseev, M. Khomyakov, P. Paramoshkin, A. Kesaev and others.
The materials about the liberation mission of the Soviet Army, the Black Sea Fleet and the Danube Military Flotilla in European countries are presented.
In the last hall — portraits of Heroes of the Soviet Union, inscribed forever in the lists of personnel of ships, units and subdivisions of the Black Sea Fleet, photos of honorary citizens of the city-hero. Documents, awards of sailors who showed courage and bravery in the performance of military duty in peacetime, materials about the patronage of the Komsomol over the Navy, about the close ties between sailors and residents of Sevastopol, about international ties are exhibited.
400 thousand people visit this museum annually. Its employees «do a lot of work on military-patriotic education of young people.