U.S.S. Olympia

USS Olympia (C-6)

USS Olympia (C-6), port bow, 10 February 1902.
History
United States
Name:	Olympia
Namesake:	The City of Olympia, Washington
Ordered:	7 September 1888
Builder:	Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California
Laid down:	17 June 1891
Launched:	5 November 1892
Sponsored by:	Miss Ann B. Dickie
Commissioned:	5 February 1895
Decommissioned:	9 November 1899
Commissioned:	January 1902
Decommissioned:	2 April 1906
Commissioned:	1916
Decommissioned:	9 December 1922
Reclassified:	CA-15, 17 July 1920 CL-15, 8 August 1921 IX-40, 30 June 1931
Refit:	1901, 1902, 1916
Struck:	11 September 1957
Identification:	Hull symbol:C-6 Hull symbol:CA-15 Hull symbol:CL-15 Hull symbol:IX-24
Nickname(s):	"Queen of the Pacific", "The Winged O"
Fate:	Restored as Museum Ship
Status:	Museum ship.
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Protected cruiser
Displacement:	5,586 long tons (5,676 t) (standard) 6,588 long tons (6,694 t) (full load)
Length:	344 ft 1 in (104.88 m)
Beam:	53 ft (16 m)
Draft:	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Installed power:	17,000 ihp (13,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines 6 × boilers (4 × double-ended, 2 × single-ended) 2 × screws
Speed:	21.7 knots (40.2 km/h; 25.0 mph)
Range:	6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Capacity:	1,169 short tons (1,060 t) coal (maximum)
Complement:	33 officers and 395 enlisted
Armament:	4 × 8 in (203 mm)/35 cal Mark 4 guns (2×2) 10 × 5 in (127 mm)/40 cal Mark 2 guns (10×1) 14 × 6-pounder 57 mm (2.24 in) Driggs-Schroeder RF guns 6 × 1-pounder 37 mm (1.46 in) guns 4 × Gatling guns 6 × 17.7 in (450 mm) above-surface torpedo tubes, firing Whitehead Mark 1 torpedoes
Armor:	Deck: 4.75 in (12.1 cm) on slopes 2 in (5.1 cm) flat 3 in (7.6 cm) ends Barbettes: 4.5 in (11 cm) Turrets: 3.5 in (8.9 cm); 4 in (10 cm) (shields to 5-inch guns)
General characteristics (1917)
Armament:	10 × 5 in (127 mm)/51 cal Mark 8 guns (10×1)
Olympia
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
USS Olympia (C-6) at the Independence Seaport Museum in 2007.
Location	Penn's Landing Marina, South Columbus Blvd. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	39°56′37″N 75°8′27″W / 39.94361°N 75.14083°W / 39.94361; -75.14083Coordinates: 39°56′37″N 75°8′27″W / 39.94361°N 75.14083°W / 39.94361; -75.14083
Area	less than one acre
Built	1892
Built by	Union Iron Works of San Francisco
NRHP reference #	66000692
Added to NRHP	15 October 1966

USS Olympia (C-6/CA-15/CL-15/IX-40) is a protected cruiser that saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. This vessel became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during 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 floating barracks 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.