CSS Nansemond - the Lego version!

One of the historic naval ships that will be available for visitors to build at our 3rd annual Lego Shipbuilding event on February 8, 2014, is the CSS Nansemond. The Nansemond was a twin-screw gunboat from the American Civil War, and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum has a model of this ship on display in the gallery.

CSS Nansemond

The Lego design for this ship was created by our youngest volunteer, 11-year-old Zachary Webb. Zachary came to the museum one day over Thanksgiving break and spent a couple hours working on the design for CSS Nansemond. He had a few requirements to meet: 1) the Lego ship couldn't be longer than 11" in length; 2) the ship had to be made entirely of "regular" Legos--which means he couldn't use specialty pieces; and 3) it had to be of medium difficulty. Zachary did an awesome job, and we are so thankful for his help with this ship! Here's a photograph of Zachary's version of the CSS Nansemond with an image of the ship model right behind it. That will help you to see how close the Lego version is to the real thing!

Lego version of CSS Nansemond

You can come to the Naval Museum and build this ship on Saturday, February 8, 2014, at our Lego Shipbuilding event. The event is completely FREE of charge and will be held from 10am to 5pm. It's for children and adults, and also includes a Lego shipbuilding contest! To find out more information about the event, visit our Facebook page and click on "Events" or contact laura.l.orr@navy.mil with any questions. See you there!

2014 LEGO Ship Designs Announced

LEGO Shipbuilding is one of the most popular programs and events we have done in recent history.  Nearly 2,000 people came out for a day of ship building, contests, and demonstrations from local user groups and businesses.  We are currently planning our 2014 LEGO Shipbuilding event.  A middle education program based on the event is now available for schools and school groups around the Hampton Roads area as an in-house or outreach program (FREE of charge).

Every year, staff at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum pick out new designs for ship models participants can build in the gallery during the event.  Designs from each year are put on our website as build-able
models for FREE.  Understanding that LEGO bricks are expensive, all models are made layer by layer using only standard LEGO bricks available in stores across the country.

All ship designs included in the Brick by Brick: LEGO Shipbuilding Program are created from models included in our museum gallery.  With this in mind, we are pleased to announce the new designs for the 2014 LEGO Shipbuilding Day at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum:

CSS Nansemond

Twin-Screw Gunboat

American Civil War 

USS Onondaga

Double-turreted river monitor

American Civil War 

USS Maine (BB-2/c, ex-ACR-1)

Second-class Battleship

Spanish-American War 

USS Alabama (BB-60)

South Dakota-Class Battleship
World War II

USS Stump (DD-978)

Spruance-Class Destroyer

Cold War/Post Cold War 

Stay tuned for more updates as we get close to the event!  It's time to get building for 2014!