Are you looking for an interesting history tour in San Francisco? Or would you like to visit a great space museum in Bay Area? USS Hornet tour and museum (officially called USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum) has you covered in both cases.
I felt totally flabbergasted when I released that we had been living in San Francisco for four years and I never knew about this historic gem and a fantastic space museum in Bay Area. The stars smiled on me when I was doing my research about Apollo 11 Moon Landing anniversary events and space museums in Bay Area and I stumbled upon information about USS Hornet.
When I published the article, I got lucky again. The USS Hornet’s historian, Robert Fish, read it and offered to take my family and me on a USS Hornet tour. USS Hornet tour with a docent is available to anybody, not just a travel blogger. You can either book a guided tour or a do a self-guided one. Either way, I strongly suggest you jump at this opportunity as soon as possible. And here is why.
You must do USS Hornet tour if you love history.
It is one of the most educational history tours in San Francisco Bay Area. The aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) was an active participant in World War II in the Pacific Ocean: it fought in 9 major battles, shot down 668 enemy planes in air, destroyed 742 planes on the ground and sunk or damaged 1,269,710 tons of enemy ships. Towards the end of the war it was part of a task force that attacked the Japanese home islands from just fifty miles off the coast. It does not get any hotter than that!
During the USS Hornet tour you will be able to see World War II era airplanes and dive into a sailor’s life on board an aircraft carrier. You can visit the sleeping quarters, Crew’s Mess hall, the Chapel, the Sick Bay and even the Torpedo Room. And when a docent who actually served on this aircraft carrier or a similar ship tells a war story it becomes so much more relevant and exciting. You feel like being transported 70 years ago – this is as close to time travel as you can get. “Step Into History” is the USS Hornet museum motto and they mean it!
It is imperative that you do USS Hornet tour if you are into space exploration and space museums.
Did you know that USS Hornet played an integral part in the epic Apollo 11 Moon Landing mission? It was USS Hornet that picked up Neil Armstrong Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin after their spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in July of 1969. A part of USS Hornet houses the world’s best Apollo 11 recovery exhibit and it is one of the best space museums in Bay Area.
You can see the type of helicopter that plucked the astronauts from the sea. Inside the helicopter you can see the type of rescue net that lifted them up.
The Apollo 11 command module Columbia is exhibited in Washington D.C. but the USS Hornet Museum has a spacecraft that was recovered by the ship in 1966 after a suborbital flight called AS-202, which is pretty much identical to Apollo 11 module. When you realize what super cramped space the astronauts had to spend several days in you become claustrophobic just looking at it and their sacrifices become so much more apparent. Could you imagine not showering for a week, for example?
Then you can actually walk in Neil Armstrong’s footsteps from the recovery helicopter to the NASA quarantine station (MQF) in which he and the crew spent 3 days on board the ship. When you are peeking inside the MQF you are standing exactly where President Nixon welcomed them back to Earth, which was watched on live TV by 500 million people around the world.
Finally, you are transported to a typical 1960s living room where the whole family would get together to closely watch the live reports of the fateful events of the end of July, 1969. The old TV is on – feel free to sit down and watch as momentous history is being made just feet away inside the USS Hornet.
There is also a small exhibition showing several space exploration curiosities such as a detailed model of the Saturn rocket (the one that flew Apollo 11 mission into space), astronauts’ survival kit and much more.
You will definitely enjoy USS Hornet tour if you are into Hollywood movies.
For starters, “Rescue Dawn” movie was filmed on board USS Hornet. When you go to the pilots’ debriefing room on the aircraft carrier you can sit down in an armchair where Christian Bale was sitting at the beginning of the movie when he and his teammates were having a debrief (it is the one on the right).
You can also see F-14 Tomcat airplane on board USS Hornet, the type that Tom Cruise flew in the “Top Gun” blockbuster.
Finally the newest “Apollo 11” movie has USS Hornet featured in it since, as I already mentioned, it played an important part in Apollo 11 mission.
If you love exploring paranormal activity you cannot miss USS Hornet tour.
We were told that several ghosts live on the ship. In fact, USS Hornet is so famous for all its paranormal activity that is was featured on SYFY’s Ghost Hunters program and Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures program too.
Our USS Hornet tour guide, told us that he saw paranormal activity there himself in the Sick Bay. There is a website that collects all USS Hornet ghost stories which you can find HERE. We were not lucky, we did not encounter any ghosts during our visit but if you go on USS Hornet tour and see one I would love to hear your story!
In addition to USS Hornet tour during the day time you can stay on the ship overnight. I believe this is the prime time to search for ghosts. Your sleepover will include a dinner and breakfast in the Crew’s Mess, USS Hornet tour, sleeping on the bunk beds in the sailors’ quarters and a special crew patch and certificate. This is an adventure not to miss.
One thing we did not get a chance to try on our USS Hornet tour is a flight simulator. We were told it is an exciting experience (I don’t doubt that at all) but unfortunately it opened later in the afternoon so we missed it. However we definitely intend to come back to try it out. Flight simulator is included in the sleepover too.
Finally, don’t forget to check USS Hornet’s website for special events. There are a variety being scheduled throughout the year from concerts to escape room type events.
USS Hornet is located in Alameda and it is easily accessible form any part of San Francisco Bay Area. There is ample parking next to the pier. The views of the San Francisco skyline from the pier and from the ship are phenomenal, when the weather is right. Please, bear in mind that the weather in this part of San Francisco Bay Area is very changeable. It can become very windy and/or foggy very quickly so I suggest having a sweater or a jacket with you even if you are visiting in summer.
If you would like to have lunch or dinner in Alameda after your USS Hornet tour, there are many good options on the island. We enjoyed a great lunch at Pier 29 seafood restaurant about half a mile drive from the aircraft carrier.
If you enjoy USS Hornet tour I also suggest visiting USS Midway in San Diego (you can read more about it in my San Diego family trip itinerary). It is a bigger and more modern aircraft carrier. It did not participate in World War II but it covers other aspects of 20th century history.
If you found this USS Hornet Tour review useful, please do me a little favor and share this information with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their travel plans. 🙂 Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram where I post many more cool photos and videos about our trips than I could include in a blog post and organize some nice giveaways!
