New Royal Marines Experience set to open in October

Royal Navy Museums has announced that its new Royal Marines Experience will open on 24 October 2026 in the historic Boathouse 6 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

The £15m project has been supported by a £4.4m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, alongside funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation, Royal Navy Museums reserves, and private donations.

The former Royal Marines Museum closed in 2017 with plans to move to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and create a new centre for Royal Marines heritage.

The Royal Marines Experience will transform the historic 1840s Grade II* listed Boathouse 6 into a national centre that celebrates the service and history of the Royal Marines.

The venue will tell the story of the Royal Marines through an immersive, multimedia journey covering more than 360 years of the military organisation’s history, from 1664 to today. Hands-on activities and objects will also help reveal the service’s history.

As well as exhibition space, the venue will have a laser quest experience, conference facilities and a remembrance room.

The new studio is the first purpose-built special exhibition space in the dockyard and will be one of the biggest temporary exhibition spaces in the south of England.

Interactive galleries and commando challenges will reveal the ethos, operations, and the physical and mental demands of service. Hundreds of objects telling the history of the Royal Marines will be on display, including a scale model of the Iraqi Al Faw peninsula built in secret in 2003; 10 Victoria Crosses awarded to the Royal Marines, from the Crimean War (1853-56) to the second world war; a medal presentation box given to marine David Davidson by his husband with decoration showing the marines’ landing in Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956; and a green beret worn by marine WGC Molly MacPherson who during the 1982 Falklands War.

The first temporary exhibition will be Through Their Eyes – The Royal Navy Photographic Competition.

“We want this to feel like a museum you can step into, not simply look at. Most of us will never know what it takes to earn and wear the green beret of the Royal Marines Commandos, but the new Royal Marines Experience will bring visitors closer to the tests of training, the reality of deployment and the humour, teamwork and resilience that run through the Corps,” said Matthew Sheldon, the CEO of Royal Navy Museums.

“We want people to leave with a deeper understanding of the people who serve, and with a sense that they have shared in a story that belongs to the nation.” 

Entry to the museum is included as part of an annual ticket for Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which is £51 for adults. Individual members of the Museums Association can visit for free.