Hawthorne Ordnance Museum

05/10/2026

This past Wednesday saw the completion of a 8 year project to restore the Museum's UH-1M Huey gunship at the Reno-Stead Airport. For these last 8 years we really only had a handful of volunteers but it was always Mo B. that would serve as our Mechanic and fixer of all the mechanical ills the Huey needed to over come. To Mo, we cannot thank you enough for your tireless work in keeping our Huey as complete and flightworthy as she could be. Thank you so very much!

05/10/2026

Want to take a moment to thank Shelley Hartman for recently repainting our MK-14 Torpedo that the Naval Undersea Warfare Center made into a Submarine shape some 30 years ago for parade use. The Old shape was showing her age and Shelley gave it a fresh coat of gray paint along with a new shark-face for the front. Thank you, Shelley, so very much!

01/19/2026

It's with a heavy heart that I (Peter) announce the passing of the Museum's Senior Fuze Setter, Carole Mortensen. Carole had been hospitalized for a while after suffering from a broken hip. Carole was the big supporter who wanted the museum to expand into Armor and why we have a 105mm Self Propelled Gun in the first place.....she even climbed into the driver's hatch when she was in her 80s! What a trooper. We will miss her and spirit dearly.

Carole's service will be Saturday the 24th, 11am at the LDS church in Hawthorne, Nevada.

12/23/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
For the week of Christmas the Ordnance Museum will be closed so our volunteers can have extra time with their families. Be safe out there!

12/23/2025

Looking forward to watching this documentary.

Trailer for "Babbitt, Nevada, USA - A World War II Era Ghost Town". Babbitt, now a ghost town, was once the most populous place in Mineral County. The docume...

08/21/2025

The Hawthorne Ordnance Museum received a one of a kind Ordnance Display back on July 16. It's not every day you see a Torpedo Tube from the Seawolf Submarine program.....one of the most classified submarines to this day. It's quite another to receive such a Torpedo Tube as a donation by the Navy. It literally was the culmination of generations of Navy Program Managers that each worked to save this 22,000 lb display piece.

Accordingly, we wish to thank Tyler Viani, his staff at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Hawthorne, their support contractor INDUS technology, the Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD) and their support contractor Admentum (transport and Crane Support) for bringing this incredible display to us and allowing us to show it to the American public. We also want to thank Jerry Williams (NUWC) who brought this up some 10 years ago as a possible donation. We thank all of you as well as those we promised not to mention due to security concerns. Your efforts at saving this piece of history is so greatly appreciated; we can't thank you enough.

08/06/2025

We want to thank volunteer, Ms. Millsap, for helping put up the Museum's American flag display. We are showing 7 different versions of the 27 different versions used in the last 248 years. Stop by and see them....we have a display card nearby to explain the variations....