- 4 × 8 in gunsOK, she is over 100 years old and you can no longer find ammunition for her --- but she brings something to the fight that you simply cannot quantify. Our friend LCDR Claude Berube, USNR outlines the issue quite well over at USNIBlog.
- 10 × 5 in guns
- 14 x 57 mm
- 6 x 37 mm
- 4 × 7.62mm Gatling guns
- 6 × 18 in torpedo tubes
Read it all - but here is the money quote:
... Commodore George Dewey once stood on Olympia’s deck commanding the U.S. fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War and issuing the order: “You may fire when ready, Gridley.” Today, she remains unique – the world’s oldest steel warship afloat. More importantly, she represents the beginning of America as a Mahanian power.Once again; if we don't save the OLYMPIA - history's judgement will wrap us in a shame that will not fade.
...
As a result of the inability to raise funds, the cruiser Olympia may be sunk, possibly as an artificial reef. According to ISM’s website, “the Navy has advised ISM that they are willing to authorize ISM to responsibly dispose of the Olympia.”Because of lack of funds, the museum was to cease public tours today, November 22, but recently announced that it had received sufficient funds to keep it open temporarily. To address this issue, “the museum also said it’s going to hold a summit early next year to discuss the ship’s future and funding. Officials from the Navy, National Park Service and Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission are expected to attend.”
If neither public nor private funds alone can be identified, then the answer may be in a third way: recommission Olympia.
Every CNO Call someone should have a question about the OLYMPIA. Every one. Every CFFC Call. Every one.
Either that - or accept that we are throwing away something as unique to this nation and her Navy as the Statue of Liberty. Actually, more unique. Last time I was in Paris, I saw the two miniature Lady Liberty statues. There are no more of OLYMPIA's breed.
She is the last.
26 comments:
Ghost of Great Nelson!
Yes, we can!
replace all the guns with modern equivalent barrels sans the feed system
weight should be the same
make the torp launchers capable of launching mk46/50
watch LCS blown out of water if it tries to make a pass...
She needs a major overhaul...at least a drydocking and her steel replaced below the waterline. my concern is that she would not survive being towed across the river. there was thought about towing her down to the WNY, however, she would DEFINITELY not survive THAT trip in her current condition. Sad. I hope that we can find the funds to save her.
I can say this: it is being actively worked, although not discussed in the media.
She should be saved. After touring her, I was amazed at the craftsmanship and beauty. Heh I'm guessing more than a few Marines would want her now for the gun support.
Is this really a surprise, given your previous post on our leadership rejecting reality?
Saltyu that is GREAT news.
She is an amazing ship, and worth saving, but at what cost. Calling to recommission her ignores the fiscal reality -- cost of crew, extensive repairs, continuous maintenance...What do you not want in order for this to happen? It is a sad, grim truth that if she only generates interest when threatened with destruction, when saved and the interest dies out, the Navy has a huge bill with no dollars to pay it.
"<span>What do you not want in order for this to happen?"</span>
We can start with the John Murtha Library project. Ditto Arlen Specter. Cancel ONE DAY of POTUS' extravagant trip of recent, and you have TEM TIMES the money needed.
Not buying the lack of funds thing.
Salty:
You just wet my whistle for more information. You're teasing me.............can you say more w/out being guilty of 'loose lips sinks ships?'
AYE! Tear her tattered ensign down!
Tradition, history, our past as a powerful nation are no longer relevant.
At least some think that way, but I say keep her. Put her back in commission, and then get her out of the water to be preserved.
Call it the Murtha memorial, if necessary, but save our historic ship!
Ahhh. We would do to remember the lovely and enigmatic Clio's warning.
"He who cannot look to the past is doomed to be trapped in that most illusive of tenses, the present, like a little child lost, who knows not where he goes, nor from whence he came."
Yeah...
I'll bet for some, she doesn't represent a "Force for Good", so much as a symbol of misplaced American Exceptionalism....
Looking over those specifications, I wonder if we can't refit her as a replacement for LCS...
Olympia can't be any more expensive...and has a lot more firepower.
Somebody should run a simulation of CL-15 vs LCS-1.
Damn right we are exceptional. So was Rome in its Day.
No matter what we do in this world, no matter how much good it isnt enough to make up for what many have chosen to make us. The Enemy. So be it. I'd rather be an exceptional American than a Much beloved one dependent on the good graces of a greater empire.
James,
Can you yell that loud enough that they hear it on the Potomac? Thanks.
no, sir.
And how about this...Dewey commanding CL 15 and Roughead commanding LCS-1.
I spent 25 years in the Navy, I'm a Philadelphian who has toured Olympia... The Commander has this right. She is a unique piece of naval history. There are guns IN the Admiral's quarters...
No different then the HMS Victory. THey have her permanantly dry docked in Portsmouth Harbor and the best of the best around the RN's fleet and those that are the best of the best of the Reservist and Auxillary (see our FRA) man her both as tour guides and fire watches. Sell tickets to access, sell BSA/GSA access for the night, etc. If someone was smart like the guys that use to run the Independance air and space museum on NYC harbor did in the 70's and 80's. She could turn a profit. Also if she is recomissioned, that means it wouldn't be some massive overhead staff to suck up profits, rather the OpTar would be to the basic up keep and such for the laundry and berthing compartments. The rules are there for that US Code and ethics rules about getting money for a project like this.
I wonder how hard it would be to move her up the river to the former NRF at Philly Naval Yard.
I toured the ship earlier this month (expecting that waiting any longer would cause me to miss forever the chance). Several things struck me, first how little the Philadelphia Seaport museum appears to care about the Olympia. Maybe 10% of the museum is actually dedicated to military history and nothing inside the museum alludes to the two vessels parked out back (Olympia and the submarine Becunia). I couldn't even find a single Olympia souvenier in the gift shop (I didn't look in the book section, but I didn't want a book). I left the museum thinking that if these are the people in charge of the Olympia, surely it will be scuttled.
The second thing that struck me, while aboard the Olympia, is how much volunteer effort has gone into refurbishing the Olympia over the years. Nearly every large piece of equipment has a plaque nearby noting someone who spent countless hours restoring a coal lift, or a five-inch gun, or a steam whatzit to working order. make no mistake: this ship is loved, and deserves saving.
The twenty million dollar figure to save the ship is not going to be enough for a full restoration, only enough to keep it seaworthy to remain docked in port. Likely it will cost twenty million more to get the Olympia to a similar condition as the Constitution, but while the ship's current owners seem (at least from the museum's exhibit focus) consigned to its fate, there is a shadow army of retired engineers and sailors who would assist in the restoration with great respect and care. The Olympia (and Becunia for that matter) should probably also be moved across the river to Camden along with the battleship New Jersey. Let the Philly seaport concentrate on educating kids about recycling unimpeded by militaria and the Camden museum be focused on naval military heritage.
T+5mins LCS runs out of 57 mm ammo, bouncing off the armor of the CL
T+5-130 mins first 8 inch hits LCS
GAME OVER
edit second line of battle report
t+5-10 mins
But... but .... LCS carries 21 missiles !! So all is well......
of course each RAM missile has a 100 lb "warhead" !!
and each RAM has a MAXIMUM range of....
(are you sitting down ??) == 6,000 yards !!
(or less, that is the MAX range) here is the LCS BATTLE DOCTRINE:
"Don't fire 'till you see the whites of their eyes" !!!
gotta keep the LCS battle rules KISS.
ewok,
C'mon. I doubt that outcome. t+5 min LCS makes two 57mm holes in Olympia's superstructure, not hitting anything of consequence. At t+5 and 10 seconds, Olympia's first 8" shell strikes LCS, and goes through like a bullet hitting a can of beer.
"<span>During the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, USS Olympia fired an 8" (20.3 cm) shell from one of her 8"/35 (20.3 cm) guns that struck the Spanish flagship Reina Christina "squarely in the stern and drove through the length of the ship, rending every obstruction, wrecking the aft boiler, and blowing open the deck in its explosion. "</span>
Wonder how the LCS would handle that....
Maybe we should start a facecrack site titled "Save the Olympia, recomission her" and try to solicit funds to save her. Or maybe we could do like that Boy scout troop and Walt Whitman did in trying to save the USS Constitution, get a penny campaign started to ask for a few cents from everyone in the US to raise the funds for an overhaul.
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