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At the end of the 19th century, the U.S. Navy entered the modern era full-steam ahead. One of the ships leading the charge was the OLYMPIA, a gleaming white cruiser measuring 344 feet long.

The OLYMPIA was built at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco and was commissioned in 1895 as a modern warship, powered by two 9,000-horsepower steam engines and armed with guns and torpedo tubes.

She served as Commodore George Dewey's flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay in May 1898. During the First World War, the OLYMPIA served as an escort ship in the Atlantic Ocean, and her last assignment, in 1921, was transporting the body of the Unknown Soldier from Europe to Arlington National Cemetery. Today the OLYMPIA - the nation's oldest surviving steel-hulled warship - is owned by the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Open to the public as a museum, the OLYMPIA has recently been repainted and looks as beautiful as she did in her best days.
However, much of that beauty is skin deep. She badly needs to be put into dry-dock for hull repairs and new decking. Visit www.libertynet.org/seaport to learn more.
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