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Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
#2672186
06/30/19 11:54 PM
06/30/19 11:54 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
DirectSubjection
OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
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OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
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Years ago I posted some pics of my first engine tour of the Cruiser Olympia. For those not familiar with her, she's the ship Commodore Dewey sailed into Manilla Bay in 1989 and uttered the famous phrase "You may fire when you are ready Gridley" (Captain Gridley). The Olympia carried the body of the Unknown Soldier home from europe after World War 1. She was launched in 1892 and is the oldest steal ship in the world still in water. The Olympia was designed as the US flagship, meant to show the world our development, so she was designed very ornately with lots of beautiful woodwork and fancy cast brass fittings. Its a real work of art and extremely complete to this day. Saturday morning I had the honor of taking an extremely rare hardhat tour of the ship. Beyond visiting the engine room we started at the bow, saw the brig and forward torpedo room, crawled down into the ammunition storage room, saw the rudder controls aft, crawled into upper and lower coal bunkers, and original generators. Thought some of you might like seeing some pics   View of the bridge from the forecastle  Forward torpedo room. After refit the tube was removed and it became a storage area. The bring! In there you got one blanket, bare food, and a bucket. That's it. Even the porthole was covered over with only some small holes for light Original graffiti dating to 1922 on a coffer damn
Ride eternal, shiny and chrome
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Re: Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
[Re: DynoDave]
#2672743
07/01/19 08:51 PM
07/01/19 08:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
DirectSubjection
OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
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OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
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That's awesome! Thanks for sharing those.
Have you been through the New Jersey? I had a chance to go through the somewhat smaller (I think) Alabama years ago. Such giants.
And what is the submarine next to it? The submarine is the Becuna, just celebrated her 75th commissioning anniversary  Been on the New Jersey many times, always cool to visit. A couple of years ago I watched the New Years fireworks from her deck. I have also visited the LST 393, the Silversides, the Midway (and the ships around her), the Intrepid, the Savannah, the 4 ships in Baltimore (Constellation, Torsk, Chesapeake, and Taney), Missouri, John Brown, Texas, Salem, McLane, and Bowfin.
Last edited by DirectSubjection; 07/01/19 08:54 PM.
Ride eternal, shiny and chrome
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Re: Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
[Re: topside]
#2672971
07/02/19 11:17 AM
07/02/19 11:17 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
DirectSubjection
OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
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OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
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Thanks for posting - that's fascinating! Being fairly ignorant about ships of that ilk, I have a dozen questions for every photo  Ask away
Ride eternal, shiny and chrome
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Re: Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
[Re: PhillyRag]
#2673441
07/03/19 12:01 AM
07/03/19 12:01 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
DirectSubjection
OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
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OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
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Great pics. Not many get to go to those spots. What's the arrangements?
They posted the opportunity on their facebook page which I follow, I jumped at the chance. There appeared to be 10 to 12 spots total at $30 each, well worth it IMO. This may have only been the second time they have done a tour like this - started at 8AM and lasted until 11AM, led by 2 of the ship/museum's key people. We had to bring gloves and sign a waiver, we climbed up and down original handrails. It was a total success by all measure so I am sure they will do it again in the future. They did a great job restoring the bow, brigs, and powder rooms. Gave us a real good view as to what condition she is in and why she is so worth saving
Ride eternal, shiny and chrome
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Re: Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
[Re: DirectSubjection]
#2673743
07/03/19 06:55 PM
07/03/19 06:55 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,704
MICHIGAN
DynoDave
master
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master
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,704
MICHIGAN
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The submarine is the Becuna, just celebrated her 75th commissioning anniversary Been on the New Jersey many times, always cool to visit. A couple of years ago I watched the New Years fireworks from her deck. I have also visited the LST 393, the Silversides, the Midway (and the ships around her), the Intrepid, the Savannah, the 4 ships in Baltimore (Constellation, Torsk, Chesapeake, and Taney), Missouri, John Brown, Texas, Salem, McLane, and Bowfin. I've been through the Silversides several times. An awesome opportunity to get hands on with real history. They still start those huge diesels a couple of times a year, and it's my goal one of these days to be there, standing right next to them in the engine room when they do it.
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Re: Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
[Re: DynoDave]
#2673771
07/03/19 08:26 PM
07/03/19 08:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
DirectSubjection
OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
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OP
Tacohead. The First and Only
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 70,126
Here
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The submarine is the Becuna, just celebrated her 75th commissioning anniversary Been on the New Jersey many times, always cool to visit. A couple of years ago I watched the New Years fireworks from her deck. I have also visited the LST 393, the Silversides, the Midway (and the ships around her), the Intrepid, the Savannah, the 4 ships in Baltimore (Constellation, Torsk, Chesapeake, and Taney), Missouri, John Brown, Texas, Salem, McLane, and Bowfin. I've been through the Silversides several times. An awesome opportunity to get hands on with real history. They still start those huge diesels a couple of times a year, and it's my goal one of these days to be there, standing right next to them in the engine room when they do it.  There are videos of it - would love to see in person too! What a nice museum its at!
Ride eternal, shiny and chrome
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Re: Last time old planes, this time the Cruiser Olympia
[Re: DirectSubjection]
#2673861
07/04/19 12:25 AM
07/04/19 12:25 AM
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,750
Phila
PhillyRag
top fuel
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top fuel
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,750
Phila
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Thanx for the info. Will have to keep track of that program. Great pics. Not many get to go to those spots. What's the arrangements?
They posted the opportunity on their facebook page which I follow, I jumped at the chance. There appeared to be 10 to 12 spots total at $30 each, well worth it IMO. This may have only been the second time they have done a tour like this - started at 8AM and lasted until 11AM, led by 2 of the ship/museum's key people. We had to bring gloves and sign a waiver, we climbed up and down original handrails. It was a total success by all measure so I am sure they will do it again in the future. They did a great job restoring the bow, brigs, and powder rooms. Gave us a real good view as to what condition she is in and why she is so worth saving
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