Tanks - US Army Ordnance Museum - Aberdeen Proving Ground

The US Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground is one of the world's best tank museums. There was a period when the US Army Ordnance Museum was not accepting visitors, but as of this writing 5/2006 it is. It's about 25 minutes north east of Baltimore. Drive through the concrete barrier protected gate, show your ID and you're in. Drive past four traffic lights on base and the museum is on the left.

The US Army Ordnance Museum is genuinely small and anticlimactic. Inside the two story dark brick building is a single tiny Renault 35 tank accompanied by an excellent collection of small arms - rifles, machine guns and a few mortars. It's free, though I dropped some money into the donation box in the foyer. So if you're going on a rainy day, then you'll probably not get much out of the place since the vast majority of the holdings are outside. But outside is a real pleasure. It's a vast slightly undulating field gridded with a series of twin concrete pads (think big "=" signs) upon which the tanks sit spaced apart (which is great for photos). They are, however, rusting away in some cases as the photos show. So do what you can to save one of the best tank collections in the world.

Speaking of photos, I spent a great deal of time trying to isolate the tanks. Not very easy considering that there were tanks in front, to the side of and behind just about every other tank on display. It was also overcast. But patience did the trick. The sun came out from time to time and showed of the restored tank camouflage nicely.

There are around 400 tank photos on the US Army Ordnance Museum - Aberdeen Proving Ground portion of this site. Tanks detailed include: Renault R-35 tank, Grant tank, Sherman tank, Leopard I tank, Panzer I tank, Panzer III, Panzer IV, Panzer V, T-34 tank, T-34/85 tank, T-72M tank, Matilda, M7 Priest, Conqueror and the Stalin tank (IS-3 tank).

I read somewhere before going that they are planning to build a larger building for the US Army Ordnance Museum so that much of the collection can be housed indoor.

The US Army Ordnance Museum's collection is fabulous. It's as good as that at the Patton Tank Museum, though it's not in the same league as the much larger collection at the Saumur tank museum - Musee des Blindes.

I haven't seen the Bovington Tank Museum or the German tank museum (wherever that is) or the Museum of Artillery and Engineering, St. Petersburg, Russia tank museum though I would very much like to see all three of them. So I can't compare it to them.

However, the Saumur tank museum - Musee des Blindes has a better collection of everything:

Russian tanks, German tanks, French tanks, British tanks,and even.... American tanks.

A lot of basics were missing: Tiger tank, King Tiger tank, FT-17, Somua S-35, KV-1 (though I saw a photo of both tanks at the US Army Ordnance Museum prior to my trip), etc. But there were a lot of empty storage pads, so maybe the tanks are being restored. I hope so. A lot of tanks I assumed the US Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground were missing as well: the impressive US M6 tank, all of the different flavors of Sherman tanks (weren't there about 45 different types?), the different American tanks that evolved from the Sherman tank (T20 tank, T21 tank, T22 tank, T23 tank, T24 tank, T25 tank and T26 tank) which led up to the M26 Pershing tank and more. Were they all scrapped? If nothing else, this museum should have the best collection of American tanks, but I'm not sure that it does.

Also US Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground had a lot of neat artillery and the IS-3 tank (aka JS-III tank or IS-III tank or even the Stalin tank). It was a real treat to see it. There were also some variants of tanks that I had never seen before such as two different experimental Pzkw IV tanks.

If you have any suggestions, let me know. Comments about this US Army Ordnance Museum tank site are always appreciated. Narayan

US Army Ordnance Museum photo portfolio shot May, 2006 by Narayan Sengupta. The US Army Ordnance Museum is located at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Aberdeen, Maryland and is the one of the world's largest tank museums. Their phone number is (410) 278-3602.

From Baltimore take I-95 North to exit 80 (Riverside/Churchville), then MD 543 South then US 40 East then MD 715 to the APG Visitor Center.

From Delaware take I-95 South to exit 85, then left onto MD 22, then right (Follow US 40 Sign) then left then right onto US 40 West, 2 miles to MD 715 to the APG Visitor Center.