The ship was decommissioned 1970, and held in storage, but in the 1990s was registered as a historic landmark and made into a museum which opened in 1998.

Attending dignitaries included Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Honorable Jerry Brown – Mayor-elect of Oakland; Honorable Ralph Appezzatto – Mayor of Alameda; General Richard Hearney – Vice President for Domestic Business Development, Boeing Company; and Rear Admiral Robert Chaplin – Superintendent, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.

Exhibit highlights include: USS Hornet was selected in 1969 to serve as the Prime Recovery Ship (PRS) for the Apollo 11 Moon mission.

The USS Hornet Museum has the largest Apollo Program exhibit on the West Coast of the United States.

[8] Later that year, Hornet was chosen to host Azur Lane's live event celebrating the 5th anniversary of its English/worldwide release.