NMRN Research – a Statement

From the NMRN

We are continuing to work hard behind the scenes following the ransomware cyber-attack we suffered at the end of last year to recover our services. Our systems remain impacted and we may be slower than usual to respond to enquiries.

Our Research Rooms are now re-open, however some parts of our Collections Access Service remain temporarily suspended. Appointments can be made within our normal opening hours:  

• Storehouse 12, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard – Fridays 10-4, closed for lunch 12-1  
• Cobham Hall, Fleet Air Arm Museum – Second & Fourth Thursday of the month 10:30-1

Virtual Research Room appointments can also be made. These are offered over Zoom in 45 minute slots at £20 each.

Bookings must be made and confirmed at least one week in advance. Please include your preferred dates, though specific slots cannot be guaranteed. Please also read below as we are only able to take appointments current for those who know what exact items they wish to view.

Our Online Collections remains inaccessible at the current moment. Some of our collections can be searched through the following external resources:

• Library Collection:
  • Jisc – Library Hub Discover – National Museum of the Royal Navy
• Archive Collection:
  • The National Archives – National Museum of the Royal Navy | The National Archives
  • National Archives Accessions – National Archives – Annual Accessions to Repositories – data.gov.uk
• Art Collection:
  • ArtUK – National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth | Art UK
  • Watercolour World – Home Landing Page – Watercolour World

Please note, we will only be able to arrange appointments for enquirers who already know what items they would like to access. When booking an appointment include any reference numbers you can find from these sources for our team. Our team will not be able to undertake research on your behalf or provide lists of potential items which may meet your research question. If you are unsure what you would like to view, please wait and submit your request once our online collection has been restored. We aim for this to be early next year.

Digitisation On Demand services also continue to remain inaccessible. We hope to restore these at the same time as our online collection. Our previously digitised collections remain severely impacted and it is highly unlikely we will be able to supply any previously digitised materials at the moment. This includes completing any reproduction or image licencing requests.

Please note this service only answer queries relating to the collections and will not respond to general research queries or family history requests. Please send donation offers to acquisitions@nmrn.org.uk with a completed Donation Form which can be found in the Gift an Item section of the website. For further information on how to identify naval objects or research personnel please see our Research Documents. Continue to check our website for further updates.