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USS Olympia, a 5586-ton protected cruiser built at San Francisco, California, was commissioned in February 1895. Her initial service was as flagship on the Asiatic Station. In that role, she participated in Philippines area Spanish-American War operations, including the Battle of Manila Bay, and returned to the U.S. in September 1899.
From 1902 to 1906, Olympia was active in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean, and then saw occasional service as a Naval Academy training ship into 1909. She was a barracks ship at Charleston, South Carolina, from 1912 to 1916, and recommissioned for sea duty in the latter year. Olympia spent World War I and the early post-war years in the Atlantic, the Russian Arctic and in the Mediterranean area. She was briefly reclassified as CA-15 in 1920, then CL-15 in 1921. In October-November 1921 she brought home the body of the "Great War's" Unknown Soldier.
Decommissioned in December 1922, Olympia was preserved as a relic, being again reclassified IX-40 in 1931. Beginning in 1957 she was modified back to her 1898 configuration and became a museum ship at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she remains today as the sole floating survivor of the U.S. Navy's Spanish-American War fleet
This page features several 1890s images of USS Olympia and provides links to others.
See the page USS Olympia -- Actions and Personnel for views of the ship's Spanish-American War activities and her Officers and Crew.
If higher resolution reproductions than these digital images are desired, see "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 47388-KN (Color) USS Olympia (C-6) Oil on canvas by Francis Muller, circa 1900, showing Olympia leading a column of cruisers. Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC. Navy Art Accession #: 44-6-I U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 65,992 bytes; 740 x 655 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 76121 USS Olympia (C-6) Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, circa July 1895. Photo from the William H. Topley Collection, courtesy of Charles M. Loring, Napa, CA, 1972. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 66,316 bytes; 740 x 555 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 84575 USS Olympia (C-6) At Hong Kong, circa April 1898, probably just prior to the declaration of war. Olympia has been repainted from peacetime "white and buff" into wartime grey. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Dutreaux Collection U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 46,579 bytes; 740 x 490 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 43346 USS Olympia (C-6) Photographed in 1898-99, while serving as flagship of Admiral George Dewey, Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Squadron. Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 56,245 bytes; 740 x 465 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 2894 USS Olympia (C-6) Photographed by Hart, New York, upon her return to the United States in 1899. She is flying the four-star flag of Admiral George Dewey. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 71,677 bytes; 740 x 465 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 93400 USS Olympia (C-6) Photograph copyright 1899 by E. Chickering. Collection of Paymaster William R. Pattison. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 81,454 bytes; 740 x 625 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 100316 USS Olympia (C-6) In New York Harbor following her arrival from Manila, circa late September 1899. The original photograph was copyright by B.L. Singley and published on a stereograph card by the Keystone View Company. Note small steam launch in left foreground, with a rowed water "taxi" boat beyond. Courtesy of Louis Smaus, 1985 U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 60,202 bytes; 590 x 660 pixels A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 100316-A Online Image of stereo pair: 47,719 bytes; 675 x 355 pixels |
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10 October 1998