"Save the Olympia" Topic

The USS Olympia, in the states, is the oldest steel warship afloat. This is the ship that sailed into Manila Bay and, with its opening shots, established the USA as a great military power when Admiral Dewey said, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley."

This ship is not being maintained and renovated as it should be, and as a result it is decaying and is close to being at a critical point -- the US Navy is considering sinking it as a reef or (shudders) scrapping it. That navy refuses to fund the renovation work.

It's been left up to private donations to save this piece of military history from destruction. It would be well worth it to donate a fiver to keep this ship afloat so that we can take our children to see it in future. I just did, and you can too:

cruiserolympia.org/site/donate

Thanks for posting this Porfirio; a worthy cause indeed.

I just donated.

Where are Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and other American billionaires? Any of them could step up and foot the whole bill to save this piece of history. Either that, or the DoD ought to step in and do something about this, other than proposing to scuttle the ship.

Geez, the Navy and Marines have an annual budget of almost $172 USD billion, and they can't find the money to maintain the Olympia?

That shows a remarkable lack of pride in their service's history. A bloody shame.

I donated. Please do, if you can.

The stupid part is that Aker Shipyards which took over the Phila. Navy Yard is looking for a govt loan to keep them & their 1200 jobs going when their last 2 hulls are completed this fall without new orders. Why dont they put Aker to work on the Olympia?

I'm going down to Philly to see it this weekend. They are slated to close it down November 22.

I just told a friend who is heading for Philly to go see it.

Thanks for the heads up. I made my donation to support the cause.

I donated as well. It's completely reprehensible that things have come to this, but at least people are doing something to try to save one of this country's iconic ships.

It is a beautiful ship. We made a side trip to see it while at Historicon this year.

I visited the Olympia three years ago when I attended a convention in Philadelphia. It is a beautiful ship and worthy of our support.

K

We got this one over the pond been on to more than once
hmswarrior.org

My club Wargames Association of Reading had its 30th anniversary dinner on this one
ssgreatbritain.org

Just got the snail-mail address wrote down. Saw a segment on endangered historical sites a while back and USS Olympia was among these.

I'm going down to say goodbye next month.
Nobody with money cares, and our well-meant pennies won't do the trick.
-Kle.

Hate to say it, but Kle may be right. And as to the USN getting involved, they recommended sinking her as a reef off Cape May. The jerk USN has absolutely NO interest in its heritage..

If anyone knows someone in the Higher Level of the NEWS industry (FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) they may jump on the band wagon.

It maybe to late but, if CBS 60-minutes ran a story on it the ship would probably get a complete retrofit paid for by big business or the DOD/US Navy would do it just to save face.

Robert Henry
link
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Kleb, you better be quick – you got less than a month – 22nd November they stop doing tours.

Yeah, I know I'd better be quick, though it is still September.

I expect I'm going to have trouble being civil to the museum staff. Fortunately, I'll probably be too disconsolate for violence.

I've been spamming various well-heeled historical preservation organizations with e-mail appeals, but that won't help, either.
-Kle.

Maybe the Hearst organization would be willing to make a big donation?
;^)

and our well-meant pennies won't do the trick.

Way to discourage people from trying, chief.

I expect I'm going to have trouble being civil to the museum staff. Fortunately, I'll probably be too disconsolate for violence.

There's some well directed anger -- after all it's the museum staff who want to turn the ship into a reef, right?