USS Olympia
USS Olympia (C-6/CA-15/CL-15/IX-40) is a protected cruiser which saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922, and is most famous for service as flagship of the Asiatic Squadron during the Spanish-American War. It was from her deck that Commodore George Dewey spoke the famous words "You may fire when ready, Gridley", which launched the attack in Manila Bay, in the Philippines. She is currently a museum ship in Philadelphia, at the Independence Seaport Museum.
Olympia was laid down June 17, 1891 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California; launched November 5, 1892; sponsored by Miss Ann B. Dickie; and commissioned February 5, 1895, with Captain John J. Read in command.
Her initial service was as flagship on the Asiatic Station. In that role, she participated in Philippines area Spanish-American War operations, including the Battle of Manila Bay, and returned to the U.S. in September 1899. It was from her deck that Commodore George Dewey spoke the famous words "You may fire when ready, Gridley", which launched the attack that resulted in the sinking or capture of the entire Spanish Pacific fleet under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and silenced the shore batteries at Manila, all within the space of six hours. The precise spot where Dewey is believed to have stood when he gave the order is marked off on the ship today.
From 1902 to 1906, Olympia was active in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean. She also saw occasional service as a United States Naval Academy training ship into 1909. She was a barracks ship at Charleston, South Carolina, from 1912 to 1916, and recommissioned for sea duty in the latter year. Olympia spent World War I and the early post-war years in the Atlantic, the Russian Arctic and in the Mediterranean area. She was briefly reclassified as CA-15 on July 17, 1920, then CL-15 on August 8, 1921. In October-November 1921, she brought home the body of the "Great War's" Unknown Soldier.
Decommissioned on 9 December 1922, Olympia was preserved as a relic, being again reclassified IX-40 in June 30, 1931. On September 11, 1957 she was released to the Cruiser Olympia Association and modified back to her 1898 configuration and became a museum ship under their auspices until 1995 when faced with mounting debt, the Cruiser Olympia Society merged, on January 1, 1996 with the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she remains today as the sole floating survivor of the U.S. Navy's Spanish-American War fleet and the oldest steel-hulled warship still afloat. NROTC Midshipmen from Villanova University NROTC regularly work on the Olympia, functioning as maintenance crew.
As of 2010, the hull is corroding, and it will cost approximately $30 million to dredge a channel and repair the ship. The museum is considering sinking the Olympia and making it into an artificial reef.
Former secretary of the Navy John Lehman wrote, "Like Independence Hall, the USS Olympia deserves to be restored and maintained, and this is certainly a legitimate role for the federal government."
References[edit]
- Cooling, Benjamin Franklin. USS Olympia: Herald of Empire. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2000. ISBN 1557501483
- Alden, John D. American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
- Friedman, Norman. U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1984. ISBN 0870217186