Vol. 64, No. 3 Autumn 2019 228


6. Hull aſt er spray painting.


and capture of Manila, the ship was ordered home. On May 20, 1899 it sailed for the east coast via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, arrived off Sandy Hook, New York on September 26 and later sailed for Boston, where the cruiser was decommissioned on November 8. T e ship was recommissioned in January 1902 aſt er an extensive overhaul, which entailed a new rig and removal of torpedo tubes and fi ghting tops. It joined the Atlantic Squadron and became the fi rst fl agship for the Caribbean Division, operating throughout the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas until decommissioned on April 2, 1906. For each of the next three summers Olympia was recommissioned to serve as a training ship for the midshipmen at Annapolis.


T e cruiser was again recommissioned in late 1916 as the fl agship of Patrol Force Atlantic Fleet and served the next six years in the Atlantic in various capacities. Signifi cantly, on October 3, 1921, Olympia was the ship designated to bring home the remains of the Unknown Soldier, departing Philadelphia for Le Havre. On October 25, Olympia sailed into the Washington Navy Yard with a full armada to deliver the body of the Unknown Soldier to Arlington Cemetery.


Aſt er serving as a training vessel during the summer of 1922, Olympia was decommissioned at Philadelphia on December 9 and reclassifi ed as IX- 40 on June 30, 1931. T e title to the United States Navy’s oldest steel ship still afl oat was transferred


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