Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: oakranger on September 06, 2010, 12:24:06 PM
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This is a disgrace to our history of the U.S. Navy.
PHILADELPHIA – The USS Olympia, a one-of-a-kind steel cruiser that returned home to a hero's welcome after a history-changing victory in the Spanish-American War, is a proud veteran fighting what may be its final battle.
Time and tides are conspiring to condemn the weathered old warrior to a fate two wars failed to inflict. Without a major refurbishment to its aging steel skin, the Olympia either will sink at its moorings on the Delaware River, be sold for scrap, or be scuttled for an artificial reef just off Cape May, N.J., about 90 miles south.
The 5,500-ton Olympia's caretakers monitor every inch of its deteriorating lower hull and deck, already covered with hundreds of patches. Independent inspectors have concluded that the ship could decay to a point beyond saving within a few years if nothing is done.
"It's an absolute national disgrace. It's an appalling situation," said naval historian Lawrence Burr, author of a book on Olympia. "She is a national symbol, and she marks critical points in time both in America's development as a country and the Navy's emergence as a global power."
Olympia, which gets about 90,000 visitors annually, closes to the public Nov. 22 to await its fate. Visitors to the museum pay up to $12, which includes the chance to board the warship.
Since taking stewardship of the floating museum from a cash-strapped nonprofit in 1996, the Independence Seaport Museum has spent $5.5 million on repairs, inspections and maintenance. But it can neither afford the $10 million to dredge the marina, tow the ship to dry-dock and restore it to fighting trim, nor the $10 million to establish an endowment to care for it in perpetuity.
"She's an icon," said Jeffrey S. Nilsson, executive director of the Historic Naval Ships Association in Smithfield, Va. "She's worthy of being saved."
Efforts to secure private or public funding have been unsuccessful, a stark reminder of recessionary times. Museum officials are reluctantly mulling whether to scrap the National Historic Landmark, said to be the world's oldest steel warship still afloat, or have the Navy sink it off the coast of Cape May.
The 344-foot-long protected cruiser ideally should have been dry-docked every 20 years for maintenance. Instead it has been dutifully bobbing — and quietly wasting away — in the Delaware since 1945 without a break from the wind and waves.
The waterline is marked with scores of patches, and sections of the mazelike lower hull are so corroded that sunlight shines through. Above deck, water sneaks past the concrete and rubberized surface layers, past the rotting fir deck underneath, and onto the handsomely appointed officers' quarters below.
"She generally looks good for her age, but her expensive pre-existing conditions make it daunting," said Jesse Lebovics, longtime caretaker of Olympia. "We're still hoping someone will step up. We're hoping for an 11th-hour reprieve."
Two local nonprofits — Friends of the Cruiser Olympia and The Cruiser Olympia Historical Society — are striving to drum up money, manpower and publicity from other historic preservation groups, veterans organizations and corporate sponsors.
"We don't want to see the ship reefed and the museum doesn't either," said Jay Richman, president of Friends of the Cruiser Olympia. "We're optimistic that a bunch of small groups working together for a common cause can save the ship."
Olympia steamed out of San Francisco in 1892 and served most notably as flagship of the Asiatic Squadron in the Spanish-American War.
Its vertical reciprocating engines, refrigeration system and hydraulic steering previewed the technological advances to come; its vestigial sails and oak-paneled, parlor-like officers' quarters marked the passing Victorian era.
From Olympia's bridge on May 1, 1898, during the Battle of Manila Bay in the Phillippines, Commodore George Dewey uttered the famous command: "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." The Spanish fleet was decimated, making Dewey — and the Olympia — national heroes.
In a letter home after the victorious battle, Capt. Charles Gridley wrote: "We did not lose a man in our whole fleet, and had only six wounded, and none of them seriously. ... The Olympia was struck seven or eight times, but only slightly injured, hardly worth speaking of."
The ship later was active in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean, served as a Naval Academy training vessel, and took part in the 1918 Allied landing at Murmansk during the Russian Civil War.
Its final mission was bringing home the body of World War I's Unknown Soldier from France in 1921. The vessel was decommissioned in 1922 and was largely forgotten until it was nearly scrapped in the 1950s — and local citizens rallied with donations and labor to bring it back from the brink.
Olympia opened as a museum in 1958 but funding woes and threats of sale or scrap have been part of its history ever since. The Seaport Museum itself has weathered its own share of storms, most recently in 2008, when a former president of the organization was convicted of bilking the institution of more than $1 million.
Meanwhile, two other beleaguered vessels nearby are similarly awaiting saviors: the USS New Jersey battleship across the river in New Jersey and the historic 1950s cruise ship SS United States three miles downriver.
"There's a lot of need out there, and the economy makes it worse ... but we really can't wait," Lebovics said.
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ya i just read it on yahoo...
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And our government has money to bail out rich guys who dont need it, and got moneys to feed and house criminals who so much dont need a warm place to eat and sleep- down right a big disgrace this SHIP is being overlooked. BIG :salute to the crew.
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Dont forget the government supports illegal mexicans too
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Want to try to help? Call/ write Representatives. Enough noise heard about it, you never know. Maybe they will step up and realize the importance of this vessel.
<S> Oz
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And our government has money to bail out rich guys who dont need it, and got moneys to feed and house criminals who so much dont need a warm place to eat and sleep- down right a big disgrace this SHIP is being overlooked. BIG :salute to the crew.
actually, our government doesn't have money to bail out rich guys.........which is why the last bail outs were such a problem.
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The part that truly pisses me off is this could truly do some good if money from the stimulus program were applied . It would truly add some good paying jobs to the economy . Right here in the US . Instead the have 2 million dollars for studying ants on a pacific island . What a bunch of BS !
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I drive by her all the time, she really is in poor shape from all that ive read about her, My fears is that they will scrap her.....Fingers crossed that someone steps in and saves this bit of our history. Ships like this are part of our history that need to be salvaged and once gone, will be relegated to a photo in a history book.
Unfortunatly from what i see lately ( trying to build a Casino on the Gettysburg battlefield, Condos going up in an area of Valley Forge where the Continentials use to train etc....) that apathy and the almighty dollar is starting to win out over our heritage. I really hope time proves me wrong about that statement.
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actually, our government doesn't have money to bail out rich guys.........which is why the last bail outs were such a problem.
No, but they spent enough to bail out businesses such as GM and Chrysler. Sorry, yes it saved jobs, but reguardless. Where was the government bailing out Mom and Pop retailers when WalMart wiped them out??? :huh :salute
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OK, this is not a political thread on who should have and who shouldn't have gotten bail out money from the feds. This is about a historical navy ship that is the spot light of going to scraps or core reefs.
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No, but they spent enough to bail out businesses such as GM and Chrysler. Sorry, yes it saved jobs, but reguardless. Where was the government bailing out Mom and Pop retailers when WalMart wiped them out??? :huh :salute
see? i don't believe it saved any jobs. had they let things go, gm and chrysler would've survived.
look at it this way.
a 19 year old buys a car. he still lives at home, thus goes by parents rules. they say he can have it, but only if he keeps his job, and pays all the cars bills, plus rent(since he has a job now)
he does ok for a couple of years, but rather than furthering his education, he takes and spends his extra money on frivolous stuff. suddenly, things are really hard, and he can pay rent, or insurance.
he begs his parents to to "bail him out" and pay his insurance just this once. if they say yes, what do you think he will do? he will continue to spend money stupidly.
if they say no, he will tighten his belt...get rid of the frivolous stuff. cut spending on stupid things like his ipad, blackberry, iphone, napster subscription, etc.
now put that on a bigger scale.......and you have gm.
how do you think ford didn't need anything? they saw this crap coming down the road 5 or 6 years ago. then trimmed out, and leaned out. now they're making money, without help.
whenever the govt. steps into anything like this, they only prolong the problem. read up on the great depression a little. roosevelt didn't end it...he stretched it.
no one should depend on the govt for bailouts, and the govt shouldn't be offering them....'specially knowing they don't have the money.
if i ran my business like they run the govt., i'd have gone under 2 years ago...and i've only been in business 2 1/2 years.
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OK, this is not a political thread on who should have and who shouldn't have gotten bail out money from the feds. This is about a historical navy ship that is the spot light of going to scraps or core reefs.
unfortunately, her only chance is if someone can convince a private entity to buy, and restore her.
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I'm all for taking away a convicts cable TV, free education and no-cost health care to help pay for this. American 'prisons' are the biggest joke in the country. Convicted felons live better than I do while historical treasures like this ship (and all the NY state historical sites threatened with closing earlier this year, to name a small portion of the nationwide issue) fall into disrepair because there 'just isn't enough money' to take care of them. Give me a break!
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I think I'm going to look for a site for donations. I'd feel better trying to contribute than hoping
someone else does, or complaining about other's actions. Ahh, that wasn't so hard :aok
http://cruiserolympia.org/site/ (http://cruiserolympia.org/site/)
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So exactly how do they propose to move the ship for scrapping or making an artificial reef if the marina needs to be dredged in order to get the ship to a drydock for repairs?
Something doesn't add up.
wrongway
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So exactly how do they propose to move the ship for scrapping or making an artificial reef if the marina needs to be dredged in order to get the ship to a drydock for repairs?
Something doesn't add up.
wrongway
They strip everything but the shell of the hull out for scrapping, then float the shell away for final disassembly.