http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/03/a ... ia-030711/

Excerpt:
"The USS Olympia, a one-of-a-kind steel cruiser from the Spanish-American War, needs $2 million to $5 million in immediate repairs to stabilize it and an additional $10 million to $20 million for dry dock and restoration. The Independence Seaport Museum says it’s looking for someone to take ownership of the National Historic Landmark.

The museum posted a transfer application Monday on its website. It’s looking for a state, city or charitable organization that will assume ownership of the Olympia. Individuals and for-profit groups are not eligible to apply.

The museum is holding a summit at the end of March for potential buyers, and museum officials are hoping to have the transfer wrapped up by November 2012. They said they cannot afford the repairs and that the Olympia, purportedly the world’s oldest steel warship still afloat, will be scrapped or scuttled if a new owner is not found."

A somewhat similar situation faces the battleship USS North Carolina:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/03/08/ ... pairs.html

Interesting to read that these interim repairs will be done via cofferdam. At least the interim repairs, while not the full slate, seem relatively reasonable, cost-wise, to achieve some level of stabilization. But the common thread for maritime preservation seems to be: steel and salt do not play well together, so plan accordingly (before you lobby to obtain a ship).

Salt water corrosion was one of the reasons the USS SLATER was moved upriver to Albany, New York some years ago. Having the ship in a fresh water environment also helps to slow the deterioration of upper hull and superstructure by eliminating their exposure to salt spray.

PC

USS Texas also has been severely plagued by the salt monster. She sat in the mud in a berth at the San Jacinto Battleground in LaPorte, TX from 1948 to 1988. In 1988, she was carefully towed to Galveston for repairs and the replacement of 235,000 lbs of hull plate. During its transit to Galveston, several leaks overcame the pumps. When they eased her into the drydock at Todd Shipyard, she only had a couple of feet between her keel and the blocks. They almost lost her. While she underwent repairs, they upgraded her berth by dredging and installing a mooring system that would allow her to ride with the tide and actually float again.

Twenty years later, she is again in need of repairs. It was finally agreed that she should be removed from the water altogether. With the passing of Proposition 4 in 2007, funds were allotted to make this happen. Once completed, she will sit in a dry berth that resembles a drydock.

USS Texas and USS Olympia are both the last of their kinds and EXTREMELY significant in America's rich naval/maritime history.

Uhm, isn't the Delaware River FRESH water?

Oh, or are you talking about the North Carolina?

The "salt line" in the Delaware River fluctuates around mile 72. Where the USS Olympia is berthed the river is salt and tidal.

PC

With the closing of many former Navy Yards and ship yards, one would think there are many old drydocks available that could be used for such endevours.

Later!
Mr. Ed

There are floating drydocks and semi-submersible vessels that could lift the Olympia right in the Delaware River, eliminating the need for a distance tow, but unfortunately that takes lots and lots of $$$$$, and that seems to be what has been lacking for this ship.

PC

That is incorrect. Penn's Landing is in fresh water 99.9% of the time. Mile 72 is down by the PA/DE border. The Olympia is up by Penn's Landing, which is usually fresh water, in all but the worst drought years. The salt line typically wanders no farther north than the Commodore Barry Bridge. Penn's Landing is up by Mile 100 on the Delaware. The farthest ever recorded creep of the salt line north was to Mile 102, 2 miles north of Penn's Landing, back in the 1960's.

http://www.state.nj.us/drbc/salt.htm

From http://www.phillyseaport.org/ships_olympia.shtml

"The Seaport recently completed a strategic planning process, which outlines a new vision and direction for the Museum. Significant funding is needed to make that vision a reality, maintain the Museum’s financial stability, and keep this cultural institution relevant to the City of Philadelphia and the Museum’s visitors, which include residents, tourists, and tens of thousands of schoolchildren each year. "Regrettably, in the current economic climate, the Board of Port Wardens has concluded that it cannot raise the funding necessary to save Olympia while also financing the implementation of the Museum’s new strategic plan," McCausland says. "

New vision and direction, eh? That always makes me nervous. The translation is usually something like "we changed our mind and want to do something different now." If I worked for a company that said that I would be looking for a new job. I guess the same can be said of Olympia.

In PNSY days, ships were sent to the yard to drop their barnacles and "beard." A freshwater port is a wonderful thing.

Last century, I worked at Sun Ship in Chester. The last project I worked on was the Manhattan. To put that ship back together, we took two floating drydocks and welded them together to make huge dock. I don't know if that is still around but there is a floater on the river to the right of the John Barry Bridge(formrly the Commodore Barry Bridge). I like the idea of putting it up on dry land and allowing people to walk around the ship. Similar to the proposal for the North Carolina.

Later!
Mr. Ed

There has been similar discussion about what to do with the USS Texas. They already had an 11 million dollar hull repair and can not sustain another big hit like that. The current discussion is to put the Texas up on some type of support, dry out of the water. This is really the only way to preserve the ship. Without this the ship, if not drydocked periodically, will slowly melt into the saltwater.

When I was in the Navy, we visited Yokosuka many times. I remember there was an old Japanese war ship that was on display and it was in the ground. Looked like they just filled in the water around it with dirt. Since I was duty driver for the weapons department, an officer wanted to see the ship so he asked for the use of the department vehicle with driver to take him out there. Upon arrival he told me that I could accompany him. We weren't out of the vehicle for a few minutes when the shore patrol comes up and tells me I have to get back in the vehicle since I was in dungarees and off of the base. I could have thrown a rock and hit our ship but this was indeed off of the Yoko naval base. But I see that this vessel is still on display and in great shape. I guess the Japanese public care more about their history thgan we do.

Later!
Mr. Ed

This reminds me of the preserved "whaleback" steamer METEOR in Superior Wisconsin. Like the ship mentioned in Japan, this large vessel is ashore, buried up to its water line. It is a GREAT museum ship as all of it has been perfectly preserved. I don't think that METEOR is any smaller than OLYMPIA, so there may be a practical way of preserving the warship for the cost of land and transportation.