Cruiser Olympia
Step back in time aboard the Museum's Spanish-American War veteran, Cruiser Olympia!
Olympia (C-6) is the oldest steel warship afloat in the world. She was launched in San Francisco, California in 1892. She is similar to many early steel warships built in Philadelphia for the US Navy.
On May 1, 1898, Olympia devastated a Spanish
fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines, beginning
the Spanish-American War. Olympia helped
catapult the United States into the role of
superpower and won fame for her most famous
officer, Commodore George Dewey. It was from
Olympia's bridge that Dewey remarked, "You
may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Olympia
also served her country during World War I.
Cruiser Olympia was decommissioned in 1922 and has been part of Independence Seaport Museum’s Historic Ship Zone since 1996.
Cruiser Olympia is a National Historic Landmark, a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is part of the Save America’s Treasures program.
To learn more about Cruiser Olympia, visit the Spanish-American War Centennial Website, home to Olympia’s all-volunteer Living History Crew.
Click here to return to the Historic Ship Zone homepage.
Travel back in time...
See what's changed aboard Olympia in the
past 100 years. Click here to begin.
An inside look...
What's inside an Olympia sailor's ditty box?
Click here to find out.