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Location
Visitor tip
Book a guided tour with a knowledgeable staff member like Eric or Bill for a significantly enhanced experience—they provide passionate historical context, access to restricted areas, and personal stories that self-guided tours cannot offer. Guides are often present on weekends.
Best time
Visit during the summer season (May 26 - September 7) for the full self-guided experience. From November 1 through March 31, all tours require advance reservation (3 days notice), so plan accordingly and call (989) 684-3946.
Visitor tip
Arrive with enough time to thoroughly explore—reviews emphasize there is 'so much to explore' and the self-guided map-based adventure is best enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Plan for 2-3 hours minimum to appreciate the ship.
About U.S.S. Edson - Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum
Historic military craft with tours. Self-guided tours offered in a 1950s destroyer with exhibits, vintage artifacts & a gift shop.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Naval Ship Museum
- Featured Attraction
- USS EDSON (DD 946) destroyer
- History
- Forrest Sherman-class destroyer; served 30 years with 10 Vietnam War deployments; known as 'Grey Ghost of the Vietnamese Coast'
- Admission
- $15 adults, $10 youth (5-16), free children under 5
What visitors say
Enter the small gift shop to purchase tickets. Bathrooms on site. Great self-guided tour! You need to be able to walk up steps and climb up and down ladder type steps. Free parking.
Amazing self guided tour. It was a huge amount of fun trying to find the various areas marked on the map and imagining what life would have been like on the ship.
Wow! What an awesome tour. Our group had an overnight stay on the Edson. Eric was our guide and he did not disappoint. There is an amazing amount of passion and dedication poured into this important part of American naval history.…
From 1,402 Google reviews
Did You Know?
- USS Edson (DD 946) is a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer commissioned in 1958 that served during the Vietnam War and is now a fully self-guided and guided tour museum ship
- The museum offers unique overnight scout camping adventures aboard the historic destroyer, allowing visitors to sleep on an actual naval vessel
- The attraction features paranormal programs, capitalizing on 25 mentions of 'haunted house' in visitor reviews, suggesting ghost tours or supernatural-themed experiences
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