Penn's Landing, Philadelphia PA
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Historic Ships

Historic Ship Zone

USS Olympia

USS Becuna

USS Olympia

The top deck of the USS Olympia is closed due to restoration of the ship's Pilot House and will reopen in September 2007.
Watch the progress on the Pilot House project »

Length: 344 feet
Beam: 53 feet
Displacement: 5,870 tons
Crew: 33 Officers, 396 enlisted men
Top Speed: 22 knots (25mph)
Coal Consumption at Top Speed: 633 lbs./minute

Step back in time aboard Independence Seaport Museum's Spanish-American War flagship -- the USS Olympia!

The Olympia (C-6) is the oldest steel warship afloat in the world. Launched in San Francisco, CA, 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 delivered his famous order, "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.

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.

Travel back in time to see
what has changed aboard
Olympia in the past 100 years.
Click here to begin.

Take a peek inside the
ditty box of an Olympia sailor.

To learn more about Olympia, visit the Spanish-American War Centennial web site, home to Olympia’s all-volunteer Living History Crew.

Click here to return to the Historic Ship Zone homepage.