In comparison, the most disappointing was the Wisconsin down in Norfolk. You could walk around the main deck and up one level. The only compartment open in the superstructure, at least a few years ago, was used as a gift shop.

The situation with Wisconsin should start changing dramatically now that the Navy has transferred control to the Nauticus Museum. Her interior was sealed off as part of the "mothball" process. There are plans to begin opening her interior in stages. If we go to Norfolk for Thanksgiving this year, I plan on checking her out on Black Friday.

As for Olympia, I fear for her future. I visited her for the first time as a 15 year old, and it's been over ten years since my last visit. Time has definitely not been on her side.

As the flagship of Admiral Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay, she played a major role in turning the United States into a major naval power in the Pacific. There are only three other warships of her vintage surviving in the world, the cruiser Aurora at St. Petersburg, the Greek armored cruiser Azeroff somewhere near Athens, and IJN Mikasa (the flagship of Admiral Togo at Tsushima in 1905) at Yokosuka.

Despite the distressed economic times, I pray she can drydocked before it's too late.

Let me see if I have this right. $30 million and a national treasure is saved and hopefully improved for viewing. A lot of people get employed for several years doing this job. Probably more people than would be employed by a similar highway project. There is a down side to this? The administration should be running not walking to Philly with bags of money to get these people working now!

I would like to hasten to add that the Olympia HAS NOT BEEN SCRAPPED YET. A group is trying to start an NPO to assume ownership to continue ongoing support.

The person spearheading this is working with an "incubator" at a local university to help with starting and managing the non-profit organization. The request for e-mails is to show the level of support the community will give the potential NPO; they are looking for a thousand e-mails. He is also in touch with local politicians, hoping to shake the money tree.

It is not my cup of tea, but one of several ideas he has for the Olympia is to conduct special tours for those interested in the paranormal. Apparently, the Olympia has one or two ghosts on board, and such private tours have netted hundreds of dollars per tour in other venues. It is not my cup of tea, but I commend him for thinking "out of the box", and coming up with other fundraising ideas.

Ted was telling me that when the Battleship Texas was being towed to the drydock for restoration; she barely made it with every pump running flat out. When you take the "hard hat" tours offered a few times each year, you can tour the steering room in the bottom stern, and see the waterline where it was flooded. You can also tour one of the boiler rooms, ammo rooms, a turret, the lower CinC room, a generator room, and the bridge. If you google for Texas and "hard hat tour", you will find the page that lists when the tours are offered, and details (cost and the fact you need to wear hard toed shoes, a hard hat, and a flashlight.)

Yes, they have a steep road ahead of them, but an investment of an e-mail is all they are asking for at this time. I, like others, hope they succed.

I have not visited The Olympia since high school class trips many decades ago. Sounds like a return visit should be on my short list of things to do.

Bob- I've never heard of the Navy owning islands off the Carolina's, but I did hear a related story back in the 1980's. After Hurricane Hugo hit SC in 1989, quite a few live oaks were uprooted or broken up by the hurricane. Supposedly a lot of these were salvaged and sent north to Mystic, CT for use in wooden ship repairs and IIRC some went to the USS Constitution as well. Live oaks are normally protected in any of the cities near the coast (it takes an act of congress to cut one) but thanks to the hurricane, many were made available. "Crotches", where a tree forks or a large limb branches off are particularly prized as they can be used to make the lowest part of a ship's rib structure above the keel in a single piece for maximum strength.

Hugh

If they do get the money to restore this ship, they should find a situation where it could be displayed out of the water, like the Ticonderoga at the Shelburne Museum in VT. Still impressive on land, maybe even more so since you can see all of it. This certainly would slow down any future deterioration of the hull. See link below:

http://www.shelburnemuseum.org/collecti ... l.php?id=8

Yes, they have a steep road ahead of them, but an investment of an e-mail is all they are asking for at this time. I, like others, hope they succed.[/quote]


How about posting the Email address. I'll send mine immediately. I'll send another from my wife with or without her permission.

olympiac6@aol.com

Thanks in advance to all who do so.

The "gold standard" approach has got to be that taken with the 1843-built S.S. Great Britain, preserved in the very drydock in which she was built since recovery from the Falklands as a derelict hulk in 1970.

Despite this, the hull continued to deteriorate, and what's the point of "preserving" a 150-plus year old iron hull by replacing much of it?

The solution adopted in recent years was to constuct a glass "waterline" in the drydock, thus creating a climate-controlled environment for the historic iron hull and, at the same time, enabling access to it for museum visitors.

Other impressive accomplishments include the construction of a full-size, "operating" lightweight replica of the long-gone steam engine.

Here is a link: http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/Home.aspx

G.J.C.

Their website is really well done too.

One other overlooked early Ironclad warship is preserved in Chile. The former Barco Armada Peru, (BAP) Huascar is a trophy prize captured during the "War of the Pacific" that was fought between Chile, Peru and Bolivia. The result of the war was Peru lost several provinces in south to Chile and the City of Arica. Bolivia lost its access to the coast. Fought between 1879 and 1884. Chile kept the Ironclad and used it against the Peruvians in the War. The Huascar engaged the Manco Capac in battle after it was reflagged.

The Peruvian Navy purchased the former Union ships from a number of surplus American Navy Monitor class Ironclads. The ship is moored near Santiago and is a tourist attraction. The ship was ordered in 1862 and launched in 1864. This is later cousin to the Monitor. It too is threaten with being towed to sea and sunk. It has become to expensive to maintain. Yet no offer to return it to Peru?


The other ship in the BAP was Manco Capac that was sunk of the coast of Arica, Chile and is still accessable by diving. It was once the USS Oneota before being sold to Peru in 1868. It was built in Cincinnati, Ohio in part by Niles Works.

USS ONEOTA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canonicus Class Monitor: Displacement: 1,034 tons. Dimensions: 225 x 43.8 x 13.6 feet. Propulsion: Ericsson VL engines, 2 boilers, 320 hp, 1 shaft, 7 knots. Crew: 85. Armor: Iron: 3-5 inch sides, 1 inch deck, 11 inch turret. Armament: 1 dual turret with 2x15 inch Dahlgren smoothbore.

Operational and Building Data: Oneota, built by Alex Swift & Co and Niles Works, Cincinnati, OH. Contracted 10 September 1862, launched 21 May 1864, completed 10 June 1865. Never commissioned; placed in reserve immediately upon delivery. Sold to Alex Swift & Co. in 1868; resold to Peru on 2 April 1868 as Manco Capac. Engaged the Chilean (ex-Peruvian) ironclad Huascar once.
Fate: Scuttled 7 June 1880, apparently at Arica, Peru, to avoid capture by Chile. Reportedly the sunken hulk still exists and is mostly intact.


Dale Brown
Northern Kentucky

Some more info from Wikipedia;

Catawba was launched 13 April 1864 by Alexander Swift and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio and accepted by the United States Navy on 7 June 1865 and placed in ordinary at Mound City, Illinois until early in 1868 when she was resold to her builders. Alexander Swift and Co. put the Catawba up for sale to any country interested in buying her. The Peruvian government acquired her on 2 April 1868 for a price of US$400,000. Though the selling of the Catawba and her sister the Oneota was disputed because of a potential treaty violation between the United States and Spain following the Chincha Islands War between Spain and Peru, the sale was allowed to proceed. Alexander Swift and Co. had to pay fines that equaled nearly ⅓ of the total sale amount and the vessels were moved to New Orleans, to await their new crews.

Dale Brown

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Catawba_(1864)

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peru[url]

Dale Brown

Dale;

I knew of the Huascar; but did not know it was under threat of scrapping. Thanks for sharing.

Is there a drydock in the vincity of the Huascar, and is anyone trying to rescue it? Unless one can come up with the funds to load it onto a drydock ship or barge, and transport it back to the U.S. (like the Great Britain), what can be done to preserve it?

I fully agree; it would be travesty to let it go to scrap. Shoot, the Australians are trying to save the remains of the monitor battleship HMVS Cerberus; and it has been rusting as a breakwater for many years now. If only the Huascar was located there or in the UK.

http://www.oz.net/~markhow/pre-dred/cerberus.htm

i see the comments here; they are common questions about large ships.

Yes, the largest ships on display in the United States are the Navy ships especially the aircraft carriers. And yes the Navy with few exceptions does own them and they must pass an annual inspection to see that they are being kept up 'to bring honor to the navy" or some such phrase. A submarine in Groton Connecticut was re-possessed and is now on display in Buffalo. The USS Ling has been on display in Hackensack, NJ and the managers have asked her to be returned to the Navy.

The SS Savannah, the nucular powered steam ship was on display in Charleston, SC at Patroits Point was returned to the Reserve Fleet.

There are threee sail period war ships: the Navy's own frigate USS Constitution in Boston, the corvette USS Constellation in Baltimore ( the last sailing vessel built by the US Navy) and the replica brig USS Niagara at Eria, PA from the War of 1812.

At the other end in terms of size are the 880 foot Iowa Class Battleships. There are four: USS Missouri, the USS New Jersey, the USS Wisconsin and the USS Iowa in the Suisun Bay, CA reserve fleet. And the only one that is making money is the Missouri in Honolulu.

Maintaining all that gray paint is a major deal. The Texas and the Massachusetts have been dry docked while in private (state) hands. The North Carolina, the Alabama have not as far as I know.

With the World war II generation dying off every day it is an uncertain future for the ships at best.

The San Francisco Maritime National Park where I work has seven large ships and we have a program to dry dock the steel ship every ten years and the wooden ones more often.

There are several large steam engines in out fleet. We have a 100 Hp triple expansion engine in the tug Hercules and it is well worth seeing. We have the only beam engine afloat in the United States in the Eureka; the other is in a dry berth.

To learn more about maritime preservation you should read Sea History magazine which records the success and failures in maritime preservation.

Ted Miles, Referance Librarian.