http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100906/ap_ ... ed_warship

The sometimes-discussed-on-this-board ship USS Olympia is presently on the front page of Yahoo News. While this is good for the ship and the story has been told here previously, to get an idea of what some Americans think of preservation, read the comments which have been added to the story. Those comments struck me as the "real" story.

If you sort out all of the political ramblings, illegal alien remarks and general stupidity, it appears that many American couldn't care less about the fate of this ship. I suspect that the recession has fueled some of the feelings, particularly when anyone mentions using taxpayer money to fund such a restoration. But the tone of many of the seemingly rational, intelligent posters on this Yahoo story is that this sort of "junk" has no reason to be saved and it holds no value.

How much of our rail preservation garners the same indifference from the general public? I guess the lesson to be learned here is to rely on no one except yourself and like-minded individuals to save our heritage (rail and otherwise). And make sure that you fund it privately.

Does anyone else find any of the comments to the news story unnerving or disappointing?

Don C.

Don-I think you touched on something that should be of concern to us all. I think the gist of the remarks you read with trepidation may be reflective of something bigger-a reduction in the interest levels of the general population in history and culture, in favor of pop entertainment. Go to any major news website, and see what "trends" the most-is it Jennifer Aniston, Snoop Dawg, etc, or is it something along the lines of the USS Olympia? Bill Bryson once summed it up rather nicely, something to the effect of "the era of the arrested attention span".

So-in our mission of preservation, we need to be thinking along the lines you suggested, and never lose sight of one important thing-why should the average (non-railfan) visitor care. Relevance of history to the present day is paramount if we are to succeed for future generations.

This is not unlike the general disrespect for US industry which has set in after four decades of demonization in the media and our educational institutions. The railroads, the shipyards, and US industry in general have long been the targets for public scorn. If they are profitable they are treated by the media as if their profits are stolen from the public. Few in this country now understand or appreciate the concept of "value added" that is provided by the manufacture of products from raw materials, but the folks in China certainly understand it. You can't get very rich selling each other stuff built in China, and the slim profit margins generated by retail selling have no pulling power to get you out of a recession or a depression.

I wonder if we will see a future museum in this country featuring Chinese manufactured products, like just about everything being sold right now.

PC

Those that choose to comment on news stories do not represent America. They are a self-selecting minority of malcontents with fantasies of victimhood. News sites do little to moderate their commentariat, for to do so would invite cries of censorship. As a result, most reasonable folks have been driven off by a community of trolls that is best ignored.

Um, you might want to look at the comments to other articles before you put too much stock in the comments to this article. The Internet is the Internet, after all.

People have their own special interests and if the niche you are interested in doesn't blend with theirs, then they will post negative remarks. Take all comments with a grain of salt and go from there.

Later!
Mr. Ed

i did some consulting work aboard the cruiser several years ago and was alowed to poke around in both engine rooms. The Olympia has to be one of the greatest surviving steam installations anywhere. She is a twin screw ship with a pair of high speed triple expansion main engines. Aand all the smaller pumps etc that they needed to see that everything worked as it should.
I hope spomething good happens for the ship; but it will take buckets of dollars just to get her to a shipyard; she is silted into her berth, much the way the USS Intrepid was in New York. She should be displayed some place like the Union Iron Works where she was built; here in San Francisco. i have walked on the very floor that built those engines in 1892.
Last i heard they plan to close the ship in November; so go see her while you can! If you are anywhere in the area that is. And don't forget to see the exhibit on her in the museum. They did a good job on that.

Ted Miles

And of the self-selected, I've often found yahoo news to be the worst of the worst of the bottom of the barrel.

Regarding internet comment postings: AOL finally had to "embargo" comments when the "off topic", "way off topic", "make $1200 a week in your spare time", "meet beautiful and fascinating people" and "mud-slinging" entries crowded out reasonable discussions.

Ted, the Intrepid was really stuck in the mud in the back bay in the Philly Navy Yard. The Navy gave the guy who was putting the museum together, a few days to get her out of there or they were going to scrap her. He scrambled to find tugs and pull her out of the mud and get her going to NY. I had volunteered to do some cosmetic work on her for a press conference that never happened.

Later!
Mr. Ed

I recieved an update today on the Olympia; it will not be closed as planned for now; and plans to sink it have been postponed. Events are being planned to raise money for it's continued restoration.

The Cruiser Olympia Historical Society has some great 360 views of the engine and boiler rooms and other areas of the ship:

http://www.tcohs.org/

Well, the Olympia debacle finally made the "Outlook" section (i.e. the opinion/editorial section) of the Washington Post, which is pretty much as close as you can get to rubbing it in the faces of Congress-critters:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04519.html

(Note: I strongly recommend avoiding the comments posted to this essay.)

Those comments are far more reasonable and respectful than many that I have seen on Internet forums.

Part of the problem of USS OLYMPIA is a matter of public perception. I talked with several friends locally who are frequent contributors to maritime causes, and their responses were all along the lines of "It is a government ship, let the government pay to fix it, they are going to tax us for it anyway".

Not a correct interpretation of the situation, but a very unfortunate one for the USS OLYMPIA.

PC

One important thing missing from the article was the fact that the Olympia brought back the Unknown Soldier from France in the early '20. That may have been the ships last bit of active service. I'm surprised the reporter didn't mention that fact.