QUARTERDECK
REVIEW WINTER 1983-84
VOL. 11
1792 MARINE DRIVE, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103
NO. 1
THE U.S. CRUISER OLYMPIA The protected cruiser Olympia, named for the capital of Washington State, was laid down by the Union Iron Works in 1891 at San Francisco. She was launched in 1892, but not commissioned until 1895, when she became the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. The ship was 344 feet long, 53 feet broad, and displaced 5,586 tons. She was capable of 21.68 knots when new. Her armament was: four eight-inch guns, ten five-inch, numerous smaller guns, and six torpedo tubes. The Olympia was manned by a crew of up to 466 sailors. The Olympia is best known as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay, during the SpanishAmerican War. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore
Roosevelt had instructed Dewey to keep the Asiatic Fleet prepared to operate against the Spanish squadron in the Philippines (then a colony of Spain), in the event of war. Only five days after war was declared, Dewey's seven cruisers and gunboats, led by the Olympia, daringly steamed into Manila Bay, defying reports of mine fields. They slipped past the shore batteries at the entrance in the dark, without serious opposition. At dawn on May 1, 1898 the Spanish ships were sighted at anchor off the Cavite naval arsenal, under the protection of shore batteries. The Olympia led the Americans in five sweeps past the enemy line. As she entered action, her crew spon{continued on page 2/