It was only open to RNZN personnel for two hours per week, though groups visiting the base could also view the museum by appointment.

[1] In 1982 the Royal New Zealand Navy Museum was moved to a small building on Spring Street at the edge of HMNZS Philomel.

[2] The exhibits on display at the Torpedo Bay Navy Museum trace New Zealand's naval history since the Flagstaff War in 1845.

The piupiu was worn by the battlecruiser's captains in battle during World War I as a good luck charm.

Other displays cover the RNZN's peacetime roles of fisheries protection, search and rescue, disaster relief, and conducting hydrographic surveys.