The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is the official repository of the remains of two Civil War shipwrecks: USS Cumberland and CSS Florida.

A major effort during the museum's tenure at Pennsylvania House was the 1984 installation of a large exhibit on the Civil War in Hampton Roads.

The Navy accepted the offer, and in 1994 the Hampton Roads Naval Museum opened in the Nauticus National Maritime Center.

A reference library, archive and photographic collection specializing in regional naval material are open to the public by appointment.

The museum maintains a weekly historical blog post on a variety of naval history topics related to the Hampton Roads, Virginia area.