- Commissioned in 1895, the USS Olympia is the oldest steel warship still afloat in the world.
- It's famous for winning the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.
- Olympia transported the remains of a US soldier to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1921.
Commissioned in 1895, the USS Olympia boasts several claims to fame.
The heavily armed US Navy warship helped win a decisive victory in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Commodore George Dewey, who later became a renowned admiral, issued a famous instruction to Captain Charles Gridley from the ship's pilothouse: "You may fire when ready, Gridley."
Olympia also transported the unidentified remains of a US serviceman to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1921.
Now a museum exhibit at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Olympia is the oldest steel warship still afloat in the world.
I climbed aboard Olympia to explore its intricate engine room, crew quarters, and weaponry. Take a look inside.
Measuring 344 feet long and weighing 5,870 tons, the USS Olympia once held a crew of 40 officers and 390 men.
In addition to the ship's roles in the Battle of Manila Bay and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Olympia escorted other vessels as a convoy during World War I.
"One of my favorite fun facts is that she was so fast that she would actually outpace the convoy she was escorting," Greg Williams, manager of historic ships at the Independence Seaport Museum, told Business Insider. "She could do a top speed of 22 knots, whereas the merchant ships could only maybe do 10, 12 knots, and so she actually had to zig-zag back and forth to keep pace with the merchants who were sailing in a straight line."
Olympia also carried out humanitarian relief missions and sailed the world to serve as a symbol of American might and protect American interests abroad — part of President Theodore Roosevelt's philosophy to "speak softly and carry a big stick."
Olympia was decommissioned in 1922 and has served as a museum since 1957.
Olympia is docked in the Delaware River as part of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.
The river's fresh water helps preserve the historic ship since it's less corrosive than salt water.
My tour of Olympia began in the ship's wood-paneled wardroom, where officers would eat, work, and socialize.
Officers worked under Olympia's captain and admiral to manage the operations of the ship and its crew.
Even the wardroom included a 6-pounder gun in the corner for use during battle.
During battle, the wardroom functioned as the ship's sick bay.
We then walked down into the engine room, where a dizzying amount of machinery comprised Olympia's large engines.
At two-and-a-half stories tall, Olympia's custom-built engines were larger than most on ships of a similar size to prioritize speed.
In the boiler room, crew members shoveled coal into furnaces to power the ship's two steam engines.
The furnaces were numbered to help crew members distribute the coal evenly in an ordered sequence so as not to snuff out any of the fires.
At top speed, Olympia burned through over 600 pounds of coal per minute.
After a shift in the boiler rooms, crew members washed themselves in a washroom.
Sailors were required to wash up after shoveling coal so they wouldn't track soot all over the ship, much of which was painted white.
Crew members ate, slept, and socialized in the crew quarters.
The living arrangements offered little privacy.
Sailors slept in canvas hammocks that hung from the ceiling.
Williams said the hammocks were taken down and stored during the day "to prevent anyone from taking a nap."
There wasn't much privacy in Olympia's toilets, known as heads, either.
"The original heads would have had panels between the seats so you're not elbow-to-elbow, but it's not a whole lot," Williams said.
Each crew member received one wooden box to store their possessions.
Everything a sailor owned had to fit in one box.
The ship's refrigerated drinking water dispenser, located in the crew quarters, was known as a "scuttlebutt."
Olympia was one of the first ships to feature refrigeration, allowing the crew to enjoy cold water.
The exact origin of the name "scuttlebutt" is unknown, but Williams said he's looking into it.
At the ship store, sailors could purchase items like razors, toothbrushes, and chocolate.
Purchases in the ship store came out of the sailors' pay.
Cooks prepared meals for the officers and crew in the ship's galley.
The galley featured a coal-burning stove and copper kettles lined with lead.
"The Navy was so concerned that copper would leach into the food and affect the health of the sailors," William said. "All they knew about lead back then was it was an inactive metal, it didn't rust, and it heated nicely. They tried."
The gun deck held Olympia's major weaponry, such as 5-inch, 51-caliber deck guns.
The 5-inch, 51-caliber deck guns could shoot up to 10 miles and fire nine rounds in one minute.
The gun deck also featured 5-inch, 40-caliber breech-loading rifles.
Olympia's 5-inch, 40-caliber breech-loading rifles could fire distances of up to 6 miles, but were replaced by more advanced weaponry in World War I.
Commodore George Dewey and Captain Charles Gridley's stateroom featured a sliding pocket door to create two separate cabins.
As the highest-ranking leaders on Olympia, Dewey and Gridley worked, ate, and slept in their stateroom.
The stateroom featured original wood furniture from the 1890s.
The wood was damaged in places, but it appeared amazingly well-preserved.
Williams pointed out the enormous gun next to a table where treaties were signed as an example of "gunboat diplomacy."
"At this point in time, the Navy is kind of a de facto arm of American foreign policy, so you have admirals who are given a lot of leeway, especially compared to today, about making agreements with foreign powers," Williams said. "So if Dewey, or whoever the admiral is, wants to sign a treaty with somebody, they will do it here right next to this thing that they're going to enforce that treaty with."
Up on the top deck, much of Olympia's original furnishings remain intact.
The plaque reading May 1, 1898, the date of the Battle of Manila Bay, is original to the ship. So is the Olympia's bell.
The 6-pounder gun beneath the signal bridge can still be fired today for ceremonial purposes.
The Independence Seaport Museum hosts weddings where couples can get married on the deck of the ship or inside the museum with a ceremonial gun salute.
A plaque memorializes the fallen service member whom Olympia transported for burial at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1921.
Marines stood guard over the casket for the entire 15-day journey from Le Havre, France, to Washington, DC. The soldiers latched themselves to the casket to keep themselves from going overboard.
The wooden pilothouse contained the ship's main steering helm, or steering wheel, as well as a compass and bunk for the captain.
Dewey commanded the Battle of Manila Bay from the pilothouse.
My tour ended with a display of a bronze memorial depicting "Victory" from 1899.
The "Victory" figure is shown holding a ribbon that reads "Gridley, you may fire when ready."
The memorial was first mounted on Olympia's forward turret, then moved to the front of the conning tower before its permanent exhibit near the ship's exit.
Visiting the oldest steel warship still afloat in the world showed me just how long warships have been crucial to America's national security.
The US does not have the largest navy in the world. That distinction belongs to China.
Much of the US Navy's post-Cold War shipbuilding projects have been plagued with issues causing them to run over budget and behind schedule, which could prove disastrous in a war with China.
At his joint address to Congress in March, President Donald Trump announced a new White House office to "resurrect the American shipbuilding industry" to produce new ships "very fast, very soon."
