About
The Virtual Museum
Submarines have played a significant role in Australia’s history.
Australia was one of the first countries to acquire submarines in 1913, and on 25April 1915 the Australian submarine AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles.
Allied submarines from the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom based in Fremantle, and USN submarines based in Brisbane were critically important in the defence of Australia between 1942 and1945.
Since 1967, submarines have been the main strategic deterrent in Australia's defence posture in a rapidly changing world.
Yet, despite their significance, very little is known of our submarines.
There are submarine displays at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, the West Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, and Holbrook in New South Wales. There are submarine exhibits in Brisbane, Albany and Exmouth in Western Australia.
These displays are impressive and interesting, and they attract a lot of interest from the public.
To complement this offering, this virtual museum, the Australian National Submarine Museum will bring together the network of museums in an exciting new online format.
We hope that visitors to this museum will gain an understanding of why Australia has submarines, how they work, why they have been important in the past, their activity in the present and to imagine their roles in the future.