A group of former workers at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in the San Francisco Bay Area has launched a campaign to bring the USS Olympia to San Pablo Bay. The Olympia, Commodore George Dewey’s flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay, is the only surviving steel warship of its era.
USS Olympia may find home in San Francisco
The USS Olympia, a veteran of the 1898 Spanish-American War, has caught the attention of the Navy Yard Association of Mare Island.
The Olympia is one of the most significant naval vessels, said Navy Yard Association member Dennis Kelly, project manager for the campaign.
A National Historic Landmark, the Olympia’s last official naval mission was to carry the body of the unknown soldier from France to the United States in 1921.
Built at San Francisco’s Union Iron Works and launched in 1892, the ship could be scrapped or sunk unless a way is found to save it.
The 244-foot-long ship is moored on the Delaware River in Philadelphia and part of the Independence Seaport Museum, which is searching for a new ship’s steward.
“It’s a beautiful ship, and it’s been let go,” said Yard Association board President Ralph McComb.
After its launching, the ship came to Mare Island for final outfitting and later returned for repairs several times, said Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum Director Jim Kern.
interesting new development
Hope the folks on the West Coast can raise the money to save her.
Let’s also hope they drydock her in Philadelphia prior to the long tow back to California! Otherwise, she might just become an artificial reef without warning during the trip.
Someone suggested to me that part of the cost of getting her out of her berth could be avoided by lifting her with camels instead of dredging. Dredging in the Delaware River would be subject to strict EPA rules on what you had to do with the spoil. But the practicality of camels depends on the integrity of the hull.
If the Mare Island crowd can raise the money, more power to them! There is definitely a history, starting from the original construction, for that ship on the West Coast.
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