USS Olympia (C-6) - Preservation of Olympia

Preservation of Olympia

On 9 December 1922, she was decommissioned for the last time in Philadelphia and placed in reserve. On 30 June 1931, the ship was reclassified IX-40, to be preserved as a relic.

On 11 September 1957, she was released to the Cruiser Olympia Association, restored to her 1898 configuration and became a museum ship under their auspices. In January 1996, when faced with mounting debt and tremendous deferred maintenances, the Cruiser Olympia Society merged with the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Today, Olympia is a museum at the Independence Seaport Museum, at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. She is the sole floating survivor of the US Navy's Spanish-American War fleet. Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Midshipmen from Villanova University and the University of Pennsylvania regularly work on Olympia, functioning as maintenance crew.

The museum is no longer able to fund the preservation costs for Olympia. Historic steel-hulled ships should be dry-docked for maintenance every 20 years, but she has been in the water continuously since 1945. Essential repairs are estimated at $10 million. Plans to scuttle Olympia, making her into an artificial reef, are under consideration.

Plans were made to close Olympia to visitors on 22 November 2010, due to the poor material condition of the ship and a lack of operating funds. These plans were scrapped, and Independence Seaport Museum agreed to keep the ship open with regular hours through 31 December, and then reduced hours through 31 March 2011. The US Navy has expressed its willingness to let the museum "responsibly dispose" of the vessel. This could result in the ship being transferred, sold as scrap, or sunk as a reef. As such, the museum held a summit in early 2011 with the Navy, Navy Sea Systems Command, National Park Service, and the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission to determine what steps can be taken to save the cruiser.