HMCS Sackville is Canada's last intact corvette. (The Canadian Press)

The federal government is making a financial contribution to preserve HMCS Sackville in Halifax as a naval memorial.

The government is giving $240,000 to the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, which is raising money for a new naval heritage centre on Halifax's waterfront that will include HMCS Sackville.

HMCS Sackville has been a naval memorial since 1985 and the trust wants to build a dry dock berth to protect it from the elements.

The ship is the last of 123 corvettes that were built during the Second World War and is Canada's oldest fighting warship.

The trust was formed to preserve the corvette as a memorial and museum.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay says the ship represents an important piece of Canadian history.

It wasn't MacKay's only funding announcement on Sunday.

The Northumberland Fisheries Museum in Nova Scotia is getting almost $250,000 from the federal government to expand.

MacKay said the money will be used to help the museum build a fisheries exhibit centre at the museum's wharf on Pictou's waterfront.

The fisheries exhibit centre will connect the museum's lobster hatchery and replica lighthouse.

The project is also getting $15,000 from both the town and county of Pictou.

The federal government's contribution to the project is $246,500.