USS Olympia - Pint-size battleship in a cruisers skin
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- čas přidán 29. 01. 2019
- Today we talk about USS Olympia, a 19th century protected cruiser that could punch well above its weight and is remarkably, if only just, still with us!
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
An American ship cannot possibly have enough guns. You should know that by now. :P
One of the 5"/51 guns is operable, so our family ran through gun drill. It was aimed toward the USS New Jersey. No ammunition was provided.
One interesting thing the museum staff told me: the main difficulty with her hull is not corrosion, but erosion. She's far enough upriver to be in freshwater, but the Delaware is silty and fast-moving through there, and grit in the water wears away at her paint and hull metal like sandpaper. They were doing a portable-cofferdam repair on a patch of her hull when I was there. Interesting work.
In the early 2000s I occasionally volunteered on the Olympia with some friends. We played in a Civil War-type brass band and it was just a quick change of uniform to become late 19th century seabees. In 2007 the History Channel made a documentary about the Spanish American War, and a large majority of the scenes on a ship (Spanish or American) were filmed on Olympia, right there in Philadelphia at Penn's Landing. Careful shots, excessive use of a smoke machine, etc to block out the city when filming above deck. We vols were used as background characters in plenty of scenes, but I got a brief close-up cameo playing the bugle at one point. My one Warhol moment I suppose.
“Several Gatling guns and ... a substantial collection of personal weapons, excessive even for a ship of war.”
She's one of the oldest warships in existence and it's nice to see her still afloat, but a wouldn't permanent dry dock arrangement be better at this time?
It sounds as if the US Navy accidentally invented the battle cruiser.
If the Battle of Manilia sounds a bit unfair...remember the goal of any military force is NEVER to enter a fair fight. I you arrive with a force five times the size of the enemy force "Ya done did it right" as an old fella I knew was fond of saying.
...congress not wanting to spend money on the military, those were the days.
When I was about 12 years old, I built Revel plastic models of the Great White Fleet. Even at that age, I recognized just how beautiful and elegant these ships were and it began my life long love of cruiser class warships. Around the same time, I built models of the USS San Francisco, Baltimore, Atlanta, and the HMAS cruiser Melbourne, and a dozen others that sat on shelves in my bedroom. I'm happy that the Olympia has not been scraped. I'd love to see her once she has been fully restored. Many years later, I began collecting historical photographs largely from Northern California. I found a dozen photographs of the Great White Fleet's visit to San Francisco Bay around 1910. They really were beautiful ships.
"Petty Officer, where did those gatling guns come from?"
She is over 100 years old and got the honor to carry the Unknown Soldier home... i hope she stays with us as long as possible
"My god, why does the crew require such an arsenal of personal weapons?!"
Germany: We invented the Pocket Battleship
Also, I can’t help but imagine Dewey sounding
"Congress" simultaneously a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, and a book.
Navy: What kind of armament are we putting on her?
"The hot dogs are ready for the crew's picnic, sir!"
Had the pleasure of visiting USS Olympia last year. Her material condition is much better than I expected, and she is a gorgeous little ship.