[2] It was known as the Confederate Naval Museum in 1970 when the two ships were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as C.S.S.

[3] The Georgia Historical Association authors of the National Register nomination noted that Biggers, Scarbrough and Neal, the Columbus architects who designed the museum, had created "an imaginative and quite contemporary canopy for the salvaged gunboats.

"[4] In March 2001, the museum relocated to its present eight million dollar facility at 1002 Victory Drive and received a new name to reflect new exhibits that showcase both the Union and Confederate navies.

Hartford, famed flagship of Federal Admiral David Farragut at the naval Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864.

Merrimack steam frigate under construction at Gosport Navy Yard near Norfolk, Virginia, captured after scuttling April 1861 with the naval facilities), used in the TNT cable TV channel's 1991 film Ironclads, and recreated full-scale sections of three other American Civil War-era warships are among the hundreds of Civil War artifacts located in the museum (including sections of U.S. Navy Admiral David Farragut's U.S.S.

According to executive director Bruce Smith, it is the largest display of navy-related flags from the Civil War era anywhere in the nation.

[5] The museum also has the largest collection of surviving Brooke rifled naval cannons made in Confederate iron foundries at Selma, Alabama.

[6] The original Water Witch was stationed as a Union Navy blockader outside Savannah, Georgia during the war.

The museum holds an annual symposium, summer camps, and living history programs among the other special events it schedules throughout the year.