USS Olympia (C-6)

USS Olympia (C-6/CA-15/CL-15/IX-40) is a protected cruiser that saw service with the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. She is currently a museum ship in Philadelphia.

Olympia became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey during the Battle of Manila Bay in the Spanish–American War in 1898. The ship was decommissioned after returning to the U.S. in 1899, but was returned to active service in 1902. She served until World War I as a training ship for naval cadets and as a barracks ship in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1917, she was mobilized again for war service, patrolling the American coast and escorting transport ships.

After World War I, Olympia participated in the 1919 Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and conducted cruises in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas to promote peace in the unstable Balkan countries. In 1921, the ship carried the remains of World War I's Unknown Soldier from France to Washington, D.C., where his body was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. Olympia was decommissioned for the last time in December 1922 and placed in reserve.

In 1957, the U.S. Navy ceded title to the Cruiser Olympia Association, which restored the ship to her 1898 configuration. Since then, Olympia has been a museum ship in Philadelphia, where it is now part of the Independence Seaport Museum. Olympia was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Olympia is the oldest steel American warship still afloat. Repairs, estimated at $10 to 20 million, were desperately needed to keep Olympia afloat, and in 2010 the Independence Seaport Museum considered finding a new steward for the ship. By 2014, the museum reversed its plan to find a new steward and soon obtained funding from private donors as well as federal and state agencies to begin work on repairing the ship.

The museum invested in extensive stabilization measures including reinforcing the most deteriorated areas of the hull, expanding the alarm system, installing a network of bilge pumping stand pipes (which will provide greater damage control capability in the unlikely event of a hull breach), extensive deck patching and extensive repair and recoating of the ship's rigging. This work was made possible by donations from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the U.S. Cruiser Sailors Association and many individual donors. By 2017, the museum completed the first phase of repairs to the ship and has embarked on an ambitious national campaign to raise the $20 million needed to dry-dock Olympia and address waterline deterioration of the hull.

Background

When Grover Cleveland first took office in 1885, United States Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney continued the naval modernization program started during the preceding Arthur Administration. U.S. naval policy at the time was focused on commerce raiding, which implied a defensive posture on the part of the United States.

In 1887, Whitney authorized the construction of two coastal defense battleships, that were to become and . The emphasis was still on large and fast commerce-raiding cruisers, capable of destroying an attacking fleet's supply line. President Grover Cleveland was defeated in the election of 1888, but before he left office, Whitney managed to have Congress authorize two additional cruisers, one of which was the large, protected cruiser that was to become Olympia.

Starting in 1887, the new Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Tracy, began to rethink naval policy. Although Tracy allowed the design and construction of Olympia to continue, he was a follower of Alfred Thayer Mahan. As such, Tracy advocated a battle fleet capable of engaging enemy fleets in their home waters. However, delays in the delivery of components, including the new Harvey steel armor, slowed completion. The last one-pounder gun was not delivered until December 1894.

Union Iron Works conducted the first round of trials on November 3, 1893; on a run, the ship achieved a speed of . Upon return to harbor, however, it was discovered that the keel had been fouled by sea grass, which required dry-docking to fix.

By December 11, the work had been completed and she was dispatched from San Francisco to Santa Barbara for an official speed trial. Once in the harbor, heavy fog delayed the ship for four days. On the 15th, Olympia sailed into the Santa Barbara Channel, the "chosen race-track for California-built cruisers," and began a four-hour time trial. According to the navy, she had sustained an average speed of ,

Characteristics

The ship is in overall length, has a beam of and a draft of . Her design displacement was , with a full combat load of up to displacement. The ship is powered by a pair of vertical triple expansion engines, each supplied with steam from three coal-fired cylindrical boilers. Her engines were rated at with a top speed of , though on trials she achieved and a top speed of .

Olympias crew numbered between 411 and 447 officers and enlisted. By 1916, the turrets and guns were considered woefully obsolete, and were subsequently removed and replaced with open gun platforms, each with a single 4"/40. These guns were then later replaced with 5"/51-caliber guns in 1917.

The secondary battery was ten /40 caliber guns mounted in casemates, five on each side of the ship. Each is placed to avoid the flash from the main battery. These also were replaced with 5"/51s during the 1917 refit. Fourteen 6-pounder () antitorpedoboat guns are mounted in sponsons. Six one-pounder guns are mounted on deck, along with six above-water torpedo tubes.

On August 25, the ship departed the United States for Chinese waters.

Battle of Manila Bay

thumb|right|Olympia at the [[Battle of Manila Bay]]thumb|right|Gun crew of USS Olympia forward 8" turret that fired the first shot of the Battle of Manila Bay

On the morning of May 1, Commodore Dewey—with his flag aboard Olympia—steamed his ships into Manila Bay to confront the Spanish flotilla commanded by Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón. Gridley ordered the forward eight-inch gun turret, commanded by Lt. Stokely Morgan, to open fire, and the starboard eight-inch gun fired the first shell of the battle at the Spanish flagship Reina Christina, prompting the other American warships to begin firing. Olympia remained in the area and supported the Army by shelling Spanish forces on land. She returned to the Chinese coast on May 20, 1899. She remained there until the following month, when she departed for the United States, via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way back to the United States, the ship sought to project the United States' new global standing as a world power after the victory. Frances Benjamin Johnston was enlisted to take images of George Dewey and men in the United States Navy upon the ship. She boarded the ship on August 5, 1899. The photos presented the daily life of American men on the ship and were meant to magnify American imperialism in a positive light. The ship arrived in Boston October 10. Following Olympias return to the United States, her officers and crew were feted, and she was herself repainted and adorned with a gilded bow ornament. During March through April 1903 she and four other U.S. Navy warships were involved in an intervention in Honduras.

Starting on April 2, 1906, she became a training ship for midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy. In this role, she conducted three summer training cruises: May 15 to August 26, 1907, June 1 to September 1, 1908, and May 14 to August 28, 1909. Between the cruises, the ship was placed in reserve, first in Norfolk, Virginia and later at Annapolis, Maryland. On March 6, 1912, Olympia arrived in Charleston, South Carolina. Olympia departed Charleston on April 28, 1918 carrying an expeditionary force bound for Russia. Russia, which had previously been a member of the Allied Powers, was in the midst of civil war and had signed a separate peace with Germany. On June 9, 1918, the ship arrived in Murmansk, Russia, and deployed the peacekeeping force. On August 18, she steamed to the Black Sea to aid the return of refugees from the Balkans who had fled during the war. She was back in the Adriatic Sea by September 19, and four days later had to deploy a landing party to prevent an incident between Italian and Yugoslavian forces. She then prepared for another tour of duty in the Adriatic, departing from New York on February 14, 1920. This was concluded on May 25, 1921, when the ship returned to Charleston. A month after her arrival she was made the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet's training unit. She then participated in joint Army-Navy experiments in July, during which the former German warships and were sunk off the Virginia Capes. The casket did not fit below deck, so it was lashed to the weather deck and covered in canvas.

During the outbound crossing Olympia encountered the fifth tropical cyclone of the 1921 Atlantic hurricane season. Increased coal consumption during the storm lightened the ship, exacerbating its tendency to roll. On the return crossing Olympia encountered the remnants of the 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane.

At the mouth of the Potomac river on November 9, the battleship and the destroyer joined Olympia as she steamed to the Washington Navy Yard. After transferring the remains ashore, the cruiser fired her guns in salute. She conducted a last training cruise for midshipmen in the summer of 1922.

Preservation

On December 9, 1922, she was decommissioned for the last time in Philadelphia and placed in reserve. On June 30, 1931, the ship was reclassified IX-40, Initially, plans to scuttle Olympia, making her into an artificial reef, were under consideration by the Museum, soon overruled. These plans were scrapped, and ISM agreed to keep the ship open with regular hours through 31 December, and then reduced hours through 31 March 2011. The U.S. Navy expressed its willingness to let the museum "responsibly dispose" of the vessel which could have resulted in the ship being transferred, sold as scrap, or sunk as a reef. As such, the museum held a summit in early 2011 with the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, National Park Service, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission to determine what steps could be taken to save the cruiser. Only four were found to be acceptable, from Pennsylvania, California, South Carolina and Washington DC. On 7 May 2011 the National Trust for Historic Preservation set up a national donation repository to allow donations received through it to be used directly for the much-needed temporary and future hull repairs. The ISM, although originally committed to giving up the vessel, will manage any repair work undertaken, should funds become available.

In April 2014, the ISM announced the end of the TAPP process as it could not find an organization that could present a viable, long-term solution for the ship. Olympia will remain in Philadelphia and the ISM plans to launch a $20 million national fundraising campaign for her long-term preservation.

Preservation projects: 2014–present

The ISM has renewed its commitment to restoring the vessel and has engaged in several preservation projects which were funded in large part by grants from the National Park Service, the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, the Jennifer Pritzker's Tawani Foundation and Herman S. Pollock Foundation, as well as private donations. Over the past several decades, the Museum invested over $10 million to maintain Olympia. Some of the most notable repairs to the cruiser before 2014 include removing 30 tons of asbestos and other contaminants, conducting safety upgrades, and drafting the necessary engineering and planning work.

In 2015 Olympia received multiple grants including $169,850.00 from the National Park Service's Maritime Heritage Program to continue work on interim repairs of deteriorating hull plates and deck leaks. Between April and August 2015, four 4-foot by 7-foot sections of the hull at the waterline were cleaned, scaled to bare metal, and treated with ceramic epoxy, and new bottom paint. This was accomplished using a custom-made mobile surface-piercing cofferdam. In 2017, the Museum replaced Olympia's old gangways for easier and safer access, restored the signal bridge, restored the Admiral and Captain's skylights, and constructed replicas of historic benches, mess lockers and mess tables.

In 2017, the Museum announced that it would embark on a major national fundraising campaign to raise $20 million to drydock the vessel so that the hull can finally be fully repaired. The restoration efforts are part of a larger plan to make the vessel more accessible and to educate the public about the cultural and historic significance of Olympia.

Awards

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|Dewey Medal

|Navy Expeditionary Medal

|Spanish Campaign Medal

|Philippine Campaign Medal

|Dominican Campaign Medal

|World War I Victory Medal<br>with "WHITE SEA" clasp

Citations

Sources

[ Partial preview] from Google Books.

External links

Cruiser Olympia at Spanish–American War Centennial website
The Olympia page of the Independence Seaport Museum
Mare Island Museum's Olympia preservation page
This article has information about Olympia at the end.
Historic footage of USS Olympia in 1921, receiving and transporting casket of the Unknown Soldier of World War I to America